Moira Lenore
by Whimsy Floof
Summary: A young girl named Moira grew up in the small town of Kalm, wishing to become a great fighter, then later moves to Midgar to make her dreams come true, but will that happen? Bits of FF6 and FF9 can also be found in this story. Read on and Enjoy.
1. Ch 0: Prologue

**Moira Lenore**

**By: Gold Demona**

**Prologue**

            "Mommy! Mommy! Can I have a scythe?" I blurted out as I watched the final match of Kalm's Annual Tournament of the Blade. This has been the highlight of the year for me since I was able to recognize the art of scythe fighting. To this my mom replied, "Absolutely not! I'm barely comfortable with you _watching these violent tournaments, let alone you using a weapon with a sharp blade." I didn't want to take that answer, but she was my mom, so I had no choice but to comply._

"Where's daddy?" I asked, "He's gonna miss the end of the tournament." My mom was never really into the tournaments, but even she had some idea who the guys up fighting were. One was a scythe-wielder from some town nobody knew about, and the other guy was a tall guy with long white hair and wearing all black. He carried a sword that was longer than he was tall. He was from a military division called SOLDIER. "Wherever your father is, I'm sure he's trying his best to get here," my mom said to me as I gazed at the action.

            I was young, a little over six years old. I _was_ not and _did_ not like the other girls in Kalm at all. I always found them to be too strange, so I never went near them. They would sometimes be playing with their Maggie Moogle dolls, dressing them up and such. My uncle gave me a Maggie Moogle doll once. Instead of putting her in a dress or a tiara, I gave her a full suit of armor, a sword that she wore on a belt around her waist, and a scythe that I stuck to her little hand with a safety pin. They were handmade by me, of course, because the Maggie Moogle Company didn't have the sense to make a Blade Warrior Maggie Moogle.

            The guy from SOLDIER performed his finishing move, winning the match and the tournament. Nobody ever really dies in the tournament because the rules restrict the blows to minor injuries, so the scythe guy only ended up with a million small cuts. I screamed and cheered with the rest of the crowd as Mr. SOLDIER was declared this year's Blade Master. The Tournament of the Blade was organized by a multi-million-gil corporation called Shin-Ra. They did this in honor of the legendary King Blade of New Figaro, son of the even more legendary King Edgar of the original city of Figaro. King Blade was a master swordsman, so the tournament was set up for anyone who wielded a bladed weapon. The scythe has always been my favorite weapon, so I was always excited when a scythe-fighter entered.

            I was lost in the excitement when I was suddenly lifted up off the ground by two very large arms (large from a six-year-old's perspective). A very deep and familiar voice came from the person who had lifted me.

            "Enjoying the tournament, Moira?"

            I looked up to see my dad smiling at me, carrying me in his arms. I smiled back and said, "Yea, daddy! But you missed the whole thing. The man from SOLDIER won the tournament."

            "A man from SOLDIER, huh? Let me see." My dad looked up at the winner and seemed to almost recognize him. "Hmm," he mumbled pondering, "Could that be SOLDIER's famous Sephiroth?"

            "Sephiroth? You mean the one who claims to be the world's greatest swordsman?" my mom asked curiously.

            "He doesn't claim it himself, dear," my dad replied. "That's just what everyone else says about him."

            "He looks pretty young to be a member of SOLDIER. He doesn't seem to be any older than fifteen."

            I decided to jump in, "He must be good if he can beat a scythe man. I want a scythe."

            My dad looked at me with the "quizzical father" look on his face. "You really like scythes, don't you?"

            "Yea, can I have one? Pwease?!" I pleaded, giving him the saddest, most begging puppy face a child could ever think of giving.

            At that moment, dad looked at mom, who gave him the "don't even think about it" look that all good moms know how to do. He looked back at me and said, "Maybe we should wait until you're grown up first."

            I didn't want to take "no" for an answer, but despite my love of weaponry, I was an obedient child and submitted. "Awww… Ok." I finally said reluctantly.

********        ********        ********

            That night, we all ate dinner in front of the TV, where we could watch the TV broadcast version of the tournament. It wasn't as good as actually being part of the live audience, but I still liked watching the scythe-fighter in action. Plus, dad was able to catch all that he had missed. After it was all over I decided to try again with the pleading.

            "Can I have a scythe?"

            "No," my mom answered quickly.

            Being the persistent little six-year-old I was, I pressed on.

            "Pwease?"

            "No," my mom answered quicker than before.

            "But mommy—"

            "No!"

            "But—"

            "No!"

            "Can I just—"

            "No!"

            "…Ok." Unfortunately, my mom was more stubborn than I was. 

            After a long silence, my dad finally decided to speak up. "Moira, we told you that you may get a scythe when you're all grown up and ready to use one."

            "But I want one now," I whined obnoxiously.

            To this my mom answered, "You'll never get one by demanding it like that, and you won't get one from either of us." She glared at dad. "Do we have that clear?"

            My dad noted the glare and said, "Uh, like I said, when you are all grown up, you can have a scythe."

            "…Ok." I whined and went to my room. I whined some more to myself for a little bit, but I quickly got over it.


	2. Ch 1: Crazy Teen

**Chapter I** Crazy Teen 

(Twelve Years Later)

            "No, you are most certainly _not_ getting a scythe for your birthday!" My mom was never too thrilled about my love for scythes, and she wasn't about to change her opinion. I was about to turn eighteen, so I didn't see the harm in asking anyway. We were in the living room, sitting next to each other on the couch. Mom was watching TV when I decided to ask.

            "Why not?" I replied.

            "We've been through this before, Moira."

            "But I don't understand why I can't just have a scythe for my birthday!"

            "I've already explained this to you before. You're not old enough."

            "But I'm _never_ old enough," I protested, "and it doesn't seem like I ever will be."

            My dad, who was getting ready for another day at work in the other room and must've heard our bickering, came out into the living room with his necktie half-done. "What's going on?"

            "She _still_ won't let me have a scythe!"

            Dad decided to give the same answer as mom, but in a sweet-but-still-slightly-annoyed tone. "Well, sweetie, you're not grown up yet."

            "But I'm eighteen! (Well, almost.) Doesn't that count for anything?!"

"Key word, baby girl, _teen. You're still a __teen-ager. Therefore, you're still not of age to get a scythe of your own."_

"So when will I be of age, dad? When I'm five thousand years old?!"

"Well, it's not like your experience with your bo-staff isn't going to help."

"Um…" When I turned sixteen, I got nothing but birthday money. I used it to get a simple wooden bo-staff from the town's weapons shop because that's all I could afford. It wasn't a scythe, but at least I could train with it until I could get a scythe. "You found out about that?"

Mom's mood got from bad to worse, "It just happened to be under your mattress while I was changing the sheets on your bed."

"I…" I started to talk, but my words failed me.

"If you'll just be patient, you'll eventually be old enough to have your own scythe." My dad tried to assure me. I felt three inches tall at that point. After a long period of stressing silence, I turned around toward the front door.

"Where are you going?" Mom asked angrily.

"I need to walk around for a while." I answered and left it at that.

I walked out of the house to get myself some fresh air. I went over to the chocobo rental stable on the far side of town. After I got my bo-staff, I would sneak over there in the middle of the night, rent a chocobo, and leave town through the back exit. The owner of the place, Will, had been raising, breeding, and renting out chocobos for longer than I can remember. He was an old guy, but he was cool. He seemed like he should've been retired a while back, but he never wanted to be away from chocobos. So he only partially retired. He had a huge ranch way out in the middle of nowhere, just a couple of dozen miles from a swamp where giant snakes lived. The chocobo ranch was famous for as long as I could remember.

After Will "retired," he passed the ranch down to his nephew, Bill, who also had a love for breeding and caring for chocobos. Will later moved to Kalm and started his own small and little-known chocobo stable just on the outer edge of town. He knew me pretty well, and we were close friends for a long while. That day I was going just to visit.

When I walked into the stable, he was feeding the chocobos their daily greens. I could tell he was surprised to see me.

"Good mornin', Moira! A little early in the day to be renting a chocobo, ain't it?"

"Hey, Will! I'm just here to visit today."

"It's gotta be big if you're visiting me in broad daylight."

I leaned on one of the stables, facing into it, watching the giant yellow bird as it eats its lunch.

"My parents found out about my bo-staff and my training."

"They're not stopping you, are they?"

"Well, no."

"Then don't worry about it."

"I would still like to have a scythe before I'm old and gray."

"There's nothin' wrong with bein' old and gray (and I should know), but if there's one thing I've learned in life, it's that a little patience goes a long way."

"But I don't want to have to wait until I can have my parents' consent. My mom keeps making it seem like it'll never happen."

"You're still young. You have enough life ahead of you to wait. Believe me, when the time is right, you will get what you've been waitin' for."

"I guess you're right."

He basically told me the exact same thing my parents were _trying_ to tell me. Will seemed to always have a way of saying things that made it not sound so bad. The chocobo in front of me finished its food and lifted its head up to look at me. I scratched the top of its head, and it scooted closer so I could scratch the back of its neck.

"He sure is a wonderful one, ain't he?" Will asked when he looked at the chocobo I was petting. I looked down where there would be a nameplate for the resident chocobo, but I didn't find one. I looked up at Will.

"He's really nice. What's his name?"

"Haven't given 'im one yet. He's new. Just caught 'im earlier this mornin'."

The chocobo nudged his beak against my face. I found myself giggling at this and petted him some more.

"He likes you. Scratch him behind the ear. See how he likes it."

I reached over the side of his head. I had to guess where his ear was, so I scratched the back corner of his head. He made a loud and happy "wark" sound. I was startled, but then it made me laugh.

"He's awesome! Can I name him?"

"Be my guest."

I looked at the chocobo for a while. I tried to think of a really great name to give him, but nothing really came out. So I figured I'd just go with whatever came out of my mouth first.

"Jamie."

"Jamie? Why Jamie?"

"I dunno. I guess he just looks like a Jamie."

"Well, then Jamie it is."

Will went over to the back corner of the stable where he had a lot of equipment. I guess one of them was the nameplate maker, because when he came back a few moments later, he was holding a small rectangular piece of wood in his hands. I moved aside and watched as he put in place the nameplate that showed the name of Jamie.

"It's officially official. His name is Jamie." Will announced as he showed off the nameplate as if it were a masterpiece painting. We stood there for a while, staring at the nameplate.

"Uncle Will!" a young boy's voice called from the stable entrance. I looked over to see a young boy, about twelve or so years old, riding a chocobo that had travel packs strapped onto it. Apparently the boy came a long way to visit his uncle.

"Billy!" Will called back and opened his arms wide, as if expecting a hug. Billy jumped off his chocobo and ran over to hug his uncle Will.

"What brings you all the way to Kalm?" Will asked his nephew.

"I came here to get some supplies for the Ranch." Billy told his uncle.

"Oh is that all?" Then he noticed that I was still there. "Oh, Moira, this is my nephew, Billy. He lives with his father, Bill (who is also my nephew), at Choco Bill's Chocobo Ranch."

"That's right," little Billy replied, "and someday, I'm gonna be a great Chocobo breeder, just like my dad!" Little Billy announced quite proudly.

"Good to meet you." I shook Billy's hand and turned to Will. "I guess I'll be on my way now."

"Alright. Catch ya later."

"Later, Will. Thanks for everything."

"No problem, Moira. Anything for my best customer."

I left the stable feeling better than I did a while ago. I decided to go back home and watch some TV for a while. When I got there, dad had already left for work. He worked at the Inn. He sits at the front desk issuing people rooms, giving them the keys, and making sure they pay for them. I always thought that line of work was boring. I never really liked desk jobs.

My mom was in the kitchen washing the dishes from the night before. I guess she needed something to keep herself busy while she cooled down. I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels for a little bit. There was nothing on, so I turned it off. I laid down onto the couch, facing the ceiling, and I let my mind wander around a bit.

********        ********        ********

            The best time to leave the house for training was at one in the morning. Everyone in the town would be asleep, except for Will, of course. Every night I would go to the stable, and he would be there with a chocobo ready for the riding.

            I grabbed my bo-staff and left the house as scheduled. I headed straight over to the stable, and sure enough, there was Will. But tonight there was someone else with him. It was dark, so I couldn't recognize the person with him. I wondered who would be crazy enough to be awake at this hour? I thought for a second that it might've been Billy, but I noticed that the other figure was around the same height as Will. I walked over to find that the other figure was my dad.

            "Dad!"

            "Hey Moira." Will greeted cheerfully. "Your dad and I were just talking about you."

            My dad seemed calm. "Yes, when I left the Inn today, Will asked me to meet him here. I wondered why he would've wanted to meet with me at this hour of the night, but now I know."

            "Uh…" I was at a loss for words.

            "Don't worry, I won't tell your mother."

            "You better get goin' before she finds out either of you are missing." Will shooed dad away and led me to the back door of the stable, where he had a chocobo waiting for me. When I got a good look at it, I realized that it was Jamie.

            "Hey, Jamie!"

            "I figured you'd be more comfortable with Jamie since you were the one who named him."

            "Thanks, Will."

            "Have fun."

            I climbed onto Jamie's back and had no trouble getting acquainted with him (since I already did that morning). We left town and rode around the wasteland that surrounded the town for a while, in search of monsters for me to beat up with my bo-staff. The great thing about it is when I beat these monsters I somehow get money out of it. When a monster is defeated, it drops some money as it leaves. This is half of the reason why I left town every night, so I could save up enough money so I could eventually buy myself a scythe of my very own. The other half of the reason was to gain fighting experience.

            "Wark!" Jamie stopped all of a sudden, sending me forward and hitting the back of his head.

            "Ow!"

            "Wark?" He turned his head to look at me and lowered it a little, showing his apology. "Wark."

            I rubbed his head a little bit and gave him a green, saying, "It's ok."

            After finishing his short snack, he whipped his head back around, looking in the direction he did when he stopped. He seemed alert and cautious.

            "Is there something up ahead, Jamie?"

            He ruffled his feathers a little, as if disturbed by something. I knew he wasn't going to move any further, even if I used greens as a lure in front of his face. So I got off of his back and began moving forward from where Jamie stopped. I paused for a second and looked back at Jamie, who stood there staring at me like I was walking into a dark forbidden cave. I guess he didn't know me well enough to know that I could take care of myself.

            "Don't worry about me. I'll be right back."

            "Wark."

            I walked for about ten minutes, and I was beginning to wonder whether or not I was going to find anything. I was also starting to wonder if Jamie was just being paranoid. That's when I got the chill down my spine that told me something was following me.

            I turned around only to find two holes in the ground. I went over and poked my bo-staff into one of the holes to see if anything was in it. When I took the staff back out, a small furry creature came out of it. It stood in the hole with most of its body sticking out of it. It looked like a squirrel to me, but since when did squirrels go around burrowing like moles and stalking humans? That's when I knew that this was a monster, a Mu to be precise, and it wanted to fight. Another Mu came out of the other hole. I stepped back so I could see the both of them. They sat there for a while, wiggling their tails in little circles. They were staring at me like they had a score to settle with me, which wouldn't have surprised me because, by then, I'd beaten more monsters than I could count.

            I waited for them to make the first move. The one on the right ducked into his hole for a split second. When he came back out he catapulted a ball of weeds, dirt and dust (which was twice his size) at me using his tail. It hit me in the face, blinding me for a few seconds. It was just enough time for the other Mu to burrow under my feet and hit me with water magic. I ran over to the one on the right and smacked it upside the head with my bo-staff, defeating the rodent that threw the tumbleweed at me.

            I stepped back again to see the other Mu. We stared at each other for a while, waiting to see who'd make the first move. After two minutes of staring, the Mu decided to burrow back into his hole. Thinking that the Mu had run away, I started walking back toward Jamie. When I looked down I found that I was at the end of a long black fuse leading into the Mu's hole. At the very end of the fuse, the Mu sat in his hole, grinning at me as he pulled a match out of nowhere and lit the fuse. In a matter of seconds, the fuse ran out. I braced myself for the outcome.

            BOOM! An explosion!

            Smoke drifted up and away. It did nothing to me. I looked up to see a very surprised little Mu. I ran up to him, smacked him upside the head, and declared my victory. I didn't get a lot of money because these monsters were pretty weak, so I kept going to see what else I could find.

********        ********        ********

            After a long night of battling, the only thing left to do was to sneak back into the house undetected and slip into bed without waking my mom. I never liked this part of the routine because I was always worried that one night my mom would decide to check up on me and find me missing. I had a feeling that tonight would be especially difficult.

            The light of the living room window was on when I got to the house. I snuck over to the window, being careful not to be seen by anyone who might be inside, especially if it was my mom. I looked inside the window because I was curious as to why the light was on. I found both of my parents standing in front of the couch in the living room. My mom had an angry look on her face, while my dad had a look on his face that said, "Well, if you'd let me explain!" My mom was yelling at dad about something. I had a feeling that it was about me, but at the moment I could only think of trying to get into my room. Since I couldn't use the front door due to the fact that the front door led right into the living room, I had to think of a different way to sneak in.

            I didn't have a back door, so the next best thing was my bedroom window. I snuck around the back of the house to the window that belonged to my bedroom. I set my bo-staff against the wall for a moment so I could open the window. I had to open it carefully so it wouldn't make a sound. That way, maybe I wouldn't gain mom's attention. It took me at least three minutes to open it, but when I finally had it opened the whole way I carefully climbed through it and into the room. I reached out the window, grabbed my bo-staff, and slowly pulled it inside.

As soon as I had my staff completely through the window, I heard footsteps heading toward my bedroom. I knew for certain that it was my mom, so I quickly shut the window, hid the bo-staff, and rushed into bed. The door suddenly slammed open, revealing my mom at the door and my dad behind her. And neither of their faces was a happy one.

"Where were you?!" Mom yelled as soon as she saw me.

"Huh?" I replied, as tired as I actually was.

"Oh, don't give me that, young lady! You weren't in here ten minutes ago when I came to check on you, and when I told your father about it he acted as if he already knew!"

"Uh…" I started, but she started up again.

"And when I asked him what he was doing at Will's he wouldn't answer!"

"Can't we discuss this in the morning?" My dad intervened. "She's too tired to-"

"We will discuss this NOW!" Mom snapped back. "I want to know what's been going on around here!"

She suddenly looked down at my bed. I guess my bo-staff was sticking out because she immediately yanked it out.

"Is THIS the reason you weren't here tonight?"

"For your information, Mom, I've been out every night for the past two years."

"Because of THIS?!"

"No, actually. I went because I wanted to. THAT just happened to be part of the trip."

She stared at me for a while, then she turned around and pointed my bo-staff at my dad. "You KNEW about this, didn't you?" she asked in a shocked and frustrated tone.

My dad scratched the back of his head, looking down at the floor and replied, "Uh, well…"

"You DID, didn't you?!"

"Actually, I only found out tonight. That's what I was doing at Will's."

"But how does Will fit into all this?"

"The chocobos," I answered, "I rent a chocobo every night."

"And exactly HOW do you get the money to PAY for these chocobos you rent? You don't have a job that I know of."

"Well, duh! From the monsters I fight outside of town."

She stood there silent for a while, not knowing exactly what to do. She looked as if she was trying to figure out some way to fix the dilemma. The only problem with that was that there was no dilemma to fix, at least to me there wasn't one. I liked my training and enjoyed the battles. I gained experience and money when I won, and I learned something when I lost. So, no matter what she was going to say or do to me, I wasn't going to stop my training.

"What do you want to do with your life, Moira?" my mom asked me in a more calm (but exhausted) voice.

I wasn't quite sure what answer I could give her. I didn't really give my future much thought. It didn't help that I was too tired to think of a proper answer anyway, so I gave the best answer I could give under the circumstances.

"I guess to be the best at what I like."

"And what do you like?"

It took me a while to process what she meant by that.

"I…uh…"

My dad decided to step in again, "I think we should just let her rest now."

Mom didn't want to accept that, "But-"

"Can't you see how tired she is? She's had a long night." He led mom out of the room.

"Goodnight, Moira," he said as he shut the door behind him and mom.

"'Night dad," I replied just as the door latched shut.

I never answered mom's last question, but then again, what could I say? "Gee mom, you should KNOW that I wanna wield a scythe, even though you hate them to death." I couldn't tell her my short-term dream when she's been against it for as long as I could remember. I didn't want to think of the conversation that had just happened, so I just lay down on my bed and went to sleep.


	3. Ch 2: Birthday Bash

Chapter II Birthday Bash 

(Two Years Later)

            I still lived with my parents the day I turned twenty. This was the most special of all my previous birthdays because this was the day I would finally get what I've been longing and working for. The night before, I had finally earned enough money to buy my very own scythe. I had over one hundred thousand gil in my pouch the morning I walked into the weapon shop to buy it. For some reason, he kept all his scythes in assorted boxes in the back of the room behind the counter, as well as other weapons, like spears and ninja weapons. There were also things like Hairpins and Megaphones. I could never figure out why they would be in a weapon shop or why a weapon would just be in storage, but that's what he kept in those boxes. They were also the most expensive items in the store.

                I had walked into that weapon shop many times before, and the shop owner always let me hold one of the scythes. After getting to know each of the scythes, there was one scythe in particular that I felt I just had to have. So I asked the shop owner to keep the box under the counter until I was able to buy it. The staff height of the scythe from the ground went up to my shoulder. The length of the blade was probably about two and a half feet. The part that held the blade was silver-plated and was designed to look like a mechanical hinge joint. It had six circular slots that were meant for special spheres called materia.

            Materia is what people use for magical support. There are several different kinds of materias, including green Magic, blue Support, and red Summon. Magic materia is what we use to actually cast spells. This class of materia always comes in a green color. There's specific materias for specific forms of magic (like Fire materia for fire magic, and Cure materia for cure magic). Support materia adds special qualities to materias, and they always come in a bluish color. It basically makes magic do something special so it's not just plain casting, but only if the two slots are linked together. For example, an All materia linked to any magic materia makes it so a spell from that magic materia hits all targets. If linked to Fire Materia, it would make a Fire spell hit all the enemies, and if linked to a Cure Materia, it would make a Cure spell hit all allies. Summon materia basically explains itself. It summons huge creatures from another dimension. These creatures only stay long enough to perform one attack, and it's best not to try to get in their way. This class of materia can be seen in a sort of red coloring.

When materia is inserted into slots on a weapon or piece of armor, it enables the user to use the magic within the materia. I wasn't planning on getting any materia yet, but the scythe I wanted had six materia slots, three on each side of it. Two of the slots on each side were linked together, while the third on each side was an individual slot.

When I walked into the shop the shop owner wasn't there, so I just looked around for a little bit. I took this time as an opportunity to look at the variety of weapons that were available. There were buster swords, fighting gloves, gatling guns, and magic staves, just to name a few of the weapons. Most of them were simple beginner's weapons with only two unlinked materia slots and only worth about two hundred gil.

The materia shop next door to the weapons shop was literally just a counter away. There was no wall between the two shops because they were both in the same building, but they each had their own door and they each had their own piece of the counter that went on for the entire length of the room. The only thing dividing the two shops was a large pipe that hung a few feet overhead in the center of the room and went in a straight line as if there was actually a wall there.

I was looking at one of the rifles when the shop owner came back.

He was a little past middle-aged with a bald-spot so big his hair only consisted of a gray ring around his head. When he came in he leaned against the counter and looked at me.

"Come to look at the scythe again?" he asked as he walked in.

"Actually, I came to buy the scythe today."

"Really? Well let me pull it out of the box." He bent down, opened the box, and pulled out the scythe I intended to buy.

"So, ya finally got the money for it, eh?"

"Yes, I did. It took me what seemed like forever, but it's finally happened."

"Yes, patience is a powerful thing."

"That's what I hear," I said as I pulled out my pouch of gil. "So, how much do I owe you?"

"Well, since I almost never sell my boxed weapons, and since today's your birthday, I'll give you a discount. You can have it for sixty thousand gil."

I nearly lost my jaw due to how low it dropped. I was shocked he would give me such a deal, even if it WAS my birthday. I also wondered how he even KNEW it was my birthday. I'd never told him when my birthday was. Either way, I never liked to turn down a good offer. So I paid the man his money and took my scythe in my hand. It was heavy, of course, but that didn't matter to me. I had my scythe in my hand, and this time I was going to take it home with me.

I looked back at the shop owner, and he just stood there looking back at me with a jolly ol' smile on his face.

"Just out of curiosity," I said to the shop owner, "how did you know that today was my birthday?"

"A little chicobo told me," he answered, "Or should I say, his breeder."

"Will?" I wondered out loud.

"Yes, yes, I believe that was his name, but that's not important. You just go and celebrate your accomplishment or something."

"Uh, yea. I will." I turned around to leave. "Thanks."

"No problem."

As soon as I walked out of the shop, the first place I ran to was to the chocobo stable. I couldn't wait to show Will my new scythe. When I got there, I didn't see anyone there but the chocobos in their stables. I walked over to Jamie's stable and greeted him.

"Hey Jamie, look at this!" I raised the scythe up so he could see it. He made a happy "wark" sound, showing that he was happy for my accomplishment.

"Ya it finally happened. Now I can go to Midgar and start living my own life." I reached over and petted Jamie's head for a little bit.

"Hey there!" A voice behind me greeted cheerfully, "Can I help you with something?" I turned around to find, not Will, but some other old guy who apparently was working the stables today.

"Uh, yea. Where's Will, and who are you?"

"Well, I'm his substitute. My name's Willy, Will's cousin once removed. Will said he had somethin' Important to do at the Chocobo Ranch, so he asked me the favor of taking care the chocobos, especially the one called Jamie. Will thinks Jamie is a special chocobo just because he warms up to strangers quicker than all the others, but I think he's just friendly. In fact, it's rather rare to find a naturally friendly chocobo in these parts. They're usually…"

It seemed to me that Willy had a thing for running his mouth. He just wouldn't be quiet. He would keep talking and talking about chocobos from all over the world, and how difficult it is to catch chocobos in other parts of the world. He would go on and on about all his experiences in catching wild chocobos and about how they defended themselves by joining up with monsters and running away while the monsters distracted the chocobo catchers.

"Uh, yea. Do you know when Will will be back?'

"Well, it usually doesn't take him a long time to take care of something at the ranch. I'd say he'll be back sometime tonight. I don't think that nephew of his, Bill, ever knew what he's doing, because he was always asking Will to go help him with a sick chocobo or to help take care of an egg. Once little Billy took over, Will's been able to concentrate more on the chocobos here. All Bill's been doin' nowadays is rentin' out chocobo stables to passersby. I remember when Bill…"

There he went again. Going on and on and on about how good Billy was compared to his father Bill, who wasn't very good. I just stood there like an idiot for almost half an hour listening to the old fool as he later prattled on and on about what greens you should always give chocobos and which ones you should avoid.

"It's almost as if he never runs out of things to say about chocobos," I thought to myself, "Will he EVER shut up?"

When I couldn't take anymore, I took a step backward and said,  "Hey, thanks for your help," as I turned around and began to walk out the door.

"Hey, wait!" He called out. I froze where I was and then slowly turned back around to face him.

"Yes?"

"You wouldn't happen to be Moira, would you?"

"Uh, yea that's me. Why?"

"Oh, Will talks so much about you. It's almost like he never runs out of things to say about you."

"How odd," I thought to myself, "I wonder where he got that from?"

"He says to me that you're like the granddaughter he never had."

"Really?" I replied.

"Yep, he drags on and on about how you have a good heart and a strong will. That you'll go the extra mile to get what you want. That sounds kinda like the one time there was this chocobo I had at my stable named Dusty. I named him that because that was the state I found 'im in, covered in dust. Well, anyway, Dusty really loved apples, especially the kind with big fat worms in 'em. And one time there was a pile of apples outside the stable taller than I am. Dusty somehow knew they were out there and somehow figured out a way to get out of his stable and over to the pile of apples. He stuck his head into the pile and scrounged around like he was lookin' for the one special apple. After a couple of hours of shuffling and muffled 'wark warks' he finally pulled his head out, holding in his beak the wormiest apple I ever did see. That apple had holes every which way and all of 'em had worms crawlin' in and out of 'em."

"Nice story, but what was the point," I thought and began to turn back around to leave. "Could you tell Will I stopped by?" I asked him the favor.

"Oh sure, no problem. Was a pleasure meeting you."

"Uh, likewise."

"Ya know, the rest of my family thinks I talk too much, but I don't think that's so. Do you?"

I so wanted to tell him "Yes! And you never SHUT UP!!!!" Unfortunately, I was raised better than that, and it would've been embarrassing to say something like that.

"Nah, I don't think so," I answered.

"I didn't think so either."

"Bye."

"Later."

"Bye Jamie," I waved to Jamie, and he warked back.

I left the stable about an hour after walking in and breathed a sigh of relief. I walked home, looking at my scythe the whole way. I walked through the front door and into the living room, where dad was lounged on the couch, watching TV. It was his day off that day, and he usually spent his days off on the couch. He noticed me walking into the house and greeted me.

"Hi there, Birthday Girl! What've you been up to?"

"Hey, dad! Look at this!" I said out loud as I proudly held the scythe up for him to see.

"Hey, you finally got it!" he replied with a proud tone in his voice. "Congratulations, pumpkin!"

I dropped my hand down, letting the scythe hang. The happy look on my face changed as I rolled my eyes and said, "Dad, I'm too old to be called that anymore."

"As long as you're my daughter, baby doll, I will call you whatever cute pet name I can come up with."

I didn't really feel like continuing the argument, so I began walking to my room.

"Leaving so soon?" Dad asked me with a pouty five-year-old tone in his voice.

"I'm gonna go hang this scythe on my wall, so I can stare at it until my eyes explode and I can't stare at it anymore."

"Oh, ok. Have fun. Happy Birthday." He turned his attention back to the TV, and I went right to my room.

I turned my attention to the wall I was going to hang the scythe on. It was an empty wall. In fact three of my four walls were empty my whole life, simply due to the fact that I never was much for collecting posters or paintings, and the posters I did have were all of different scythe designs and different uses for materia. They were all hung on the wall behind my bed, where I could see it as I walked in the door, but I wouldn't be distracted by it when I went to sleep. The wall I reserved for my scythe was right in front of my bed. I wasn't going to sleep tonight anyway, so I figured might as well hang my scythe where I could see it best.

I placed special weapon-holding pegs on the wall in such a way where I would see the scythe in just the position I wanted it to be. I checked all the pegs and made sure that they were all firm and tightly placed and none of them were loose or wobbly. When I was sure they were safe, I began to carefully place my scythe on the pegs. I could've just set it on the pegs, but then I thought to myself, "Where's the fun in that?" I made it into a very slow and precise art to make sure the scythe was on just right. It was like something out of those arts and crafts shows, but with an obsessed scythe owner instead of a talented craft artist. When I finally had the scythe right where I wanted it, I took a step back and sat down on the bed.

Just as I was about to begin my many hours of staring, my mom decided to enter the room. She saw the scythe that I proudly hung on the wall, but it didn't seem to faze her at all. It was almost as if she didn't care that it was up there.

"So, you finally got it?" my mom asked me as she just sort of stared at my scythe.

"Yes, I did."

"What are you going to do with your life now that you have the one thing you've been desiring your entire life in your possession?"

"I'm gonna go to Midgar."

"When do you plan on going?"

"Tonight." I answered.

"Really, tonight?"

"Yup."

"Any particular reason why you picked Midgar?"

"I heard that there's a training facility in Sector 3."

"And what will you do if there isn't a training facility?"

"I dunno. I guess I'll sign up for a spot in Shinra's security department or something. Either way, my future's in Midgar."

"Hmm…" She looked at me for a moment and smiled. "Well, good luck."

"Thanks, mom." I said as she walked out of the room. About two seconds later, she poked her head back in through my door.

"Oh, and by the way…" she started.

"Yea?"

"Whatever you end up doing with your life, be the best you can."

"Sure, mom. Thanks."

She paused for a moment and looked back up at my scythe. She looked back at me again and smiled.

"And Happy Birthday."

I smiled back. "Thanks, mom."

She left for real this time, and I looked at my scythe again. As I stared at the beautiful bladed weapon, my mind began to wander off into a daydream of battles and adventure, and I wondered what it was going to be like in Midgar. I'd never been anywhere other than Kalm and the empty, monster-infested land outside of it, so it was interesting trying to imagine life in such a big city.

********        ********        ********

Later that afternoon, I walked out of my room, through the dining room, and into the kitchen because I wanted a snack. I couldn't really find anything tempting, so I grabbed an apple and walked out of the kitchen. I was just passing the dining room, but then I noticed a large, white cake on the table with twenty candles on it. How I didn't notice this the first time I passed was beyond me, but I looked down at this cake that was here before me.

"A birthday party?" I thought to myself.

I was confused because I've never had a birthday party in my life. It was mostly because I never had anyone to invite. I looked at the decorations on the cake. It had little colorful frosting designs of streamers, bows, and balloons on the sides of it. On the top of it were the twenty candles, all in kind of a donut-shaped formation, leaving a nice big empty space in the center. Sitting in the center of the candles was a figurine of a little chicobo, a baby chocobo, made of chocolate. It had little gumdrop eyes and gummy feet.

I stepped back from the cake and saw something else on the table. It was a small box covered in happy little blue moogle-print wrapping paper and tied shut with a pink ribbon.

"A present too?" I thought as I reached to pick up the small box. Before I was able to touch it, I was halted by a very loud, "SURPRISE!!!"

I jumped about ten feet in the air and spun around to find that my parents had seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Happy birthday, Moira!" My dad yelled out.

I just stood there staring at my parents as they sang the "Happy Birthday" song to me. I've never had a birthday party before, let alone a surprise party.

"I'll give you this much," I began, "You are the only thing that's ever been able to sneak up on me like that. Especially since I was distracted by this." I stepped aside to show the little birthday table.

"Don't you like it?" My mom asked sarcastically, "If you like, we can take back the gift and eat the cake ourselves."

"I never said I didn't like it. I was just saying that you scared the living crap out of me!"

"Well, don't just stand there, hon," my dad urged.

"Blow out the candles and make a wish."

"But don't say your wish out loud, though."

"Or it won't come true."

"That's right."

I didn't quite understand this custom of making a wish before blowing out the candles. I didn't really see anything magical about a bunch of sticks of wax that you stick on top of a sugary pastry. I played along with it anyway.

"Alrighty then." I leaned down toward the cake, all twenty of the candles flickering their little, tiny flames at me.

"Also," my dad decided to warn me, "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it."

"And you might regret it when you do," my mom added.

"Sure." I closed my eyes, made my wish, and blew out all twenty candles in one breath.

"Wow, that's great!" My dad cheered. "All in one blow!"

"Not bad for your very first birthday party."

I picked up the gift from the table and looked at it. There were little moogles printed all over it. Moogles are small, magical creatures with little wings on their backs and a poofy pom-pom dangling ontop of each of their heads. There was one sitting down, one was sleeping, and a couple of others were jump roping. As I was looking through all the moogles, I noticed a tag on the box that was half-hidden under the ribbon bow.

"What's this?" I asked as I pulled off the tag and read it out loud.

"To: Moira, From: Mom & Dad, P.S. Use it well."

I looked at my parents, wondering what this meant, and "What do you mean by 'Use it well?' What's in it?" I looked back at the box.

"Do you plan on opening it, or are you just going to look at the moogles on the wrapping paper?" my dad urged on.

"Uh…. Sure."

I quickly untied the ribbon and ripped off the wrapping paper. It revealed a velvety box that looked like it would hold a bracelet or something. I opened the box to find two glowing green spheres. One had a snowflake symbol inside, and the other had a lightning symbol inside. My eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing in this small box.

"NO WAY!!!" I yelled out in excitement.

"Yes way," replied my dad.

"This right here, inside this box that I'm holding in my hands," I began with a tone of disbelief, "This is Magic Materia!"

I was more than satisfied having my very first scythe, but having my very first materia to put on it was much more than I'd hoped for.

"Lightning and Ice Materias, to be precise," mom pointed out with a smile.

"We figured this might help you on your path down life," dad said with a proud look on his face.

"This means a lot to me," I said to my parents as I put the box down on the table and gave them a hug. "Thank you so much."

"We love you, pumpkin," my dad replied.

"Don't ever forget that, ok?" mom added.

"Ok, mom." I let go and picked up the box again. "Well, now I'm gonna go see how these new materias look on my new scythe."

I left the dining room and went straight to my room. I pulled my scythe off of the wall where it was hung and put it down on my bed so I could work with it. Attaching materia to a weapon was a very simple process. One simply had to place the materia on the slot and press down so it snapped into place. I placed the Lightning Materia in one of the unlinked slots and the Ice Materia into one of the linked slots. I liked the look of it. I put the scythe back up on the wall and sat down on my bed so I could look at it. I also thought about what to pack for when I moved out, which was that very night.

My mom came in with a plate in each of her hands, each of which held a slice of the birthday cake and a fork. It turned out the cake was chocolate under the white frosting. One of the pieces had the centerpiece chocolate chicobo on top of it.

"Hey!" mom greeted and walked right in with the cake in her hands. "I thought you might want a piece of cake." She handed me the piece with the chicobo on it and sat down next to me on my bed. I began eating almost as soon as she handed it to me.

"Thanks, mom."

                "You didn't even stay to slice your cake."

"Didn't know I was supposed to," I replied, "I never went to or had a birthday party, remember?"

"Yes, yes," my mom said with a sad tone. "I regret not being able to throw any birthday parties for you."

"You could've just made private family ones like this one."

"Well, I was thinking more down the lines of inviting children to a child's birthday party, but you didn't have any friends your age."

"Try not any friends at all," I corrected, "After I turned sixteen, Will became my only friend, and later Jamie came around."

"Jamie?"

"My chocobo."

"Yours?"

"Well, not mine exactly. Will caught him one morning and we became attached, so I named him. And he's been the one chocobo I always rented since then. We're all really good friends, Will and Jamie and me."

"Hmm. And it gets back to where I started, no friends your age." She smiled at me. I looked back at her while I was chewing a bit of cake. We laughed and I took another bit of cake on my fork and ate it.

"This is good cake," I commented, changing the subject.

"I'm glad you like it. I made it myself," she said as she took forked a bit of cake into her mouth, "I also made the little chicobo on top of it."

"Cool." I looked down at the little chocobo. "I think I'll save that for last."

"Ok. And I think I'll leave you alone with your cake and your scythe." She got up and left the room with her cake. I looked down at my plate and noticed that I only had the candy chicobo left. I looked up at my scythe and pondered about my day and what had happened.

When I blew out the candles, I'd wished for a long life of challenge, adventure, and excitement. I only wished it because it was something to wish for, but I never took into consideration just how far a wish could be taken.

********        ********        ********

By the time night fell on Kalm, I was packed and ready to move out of the little house I had called home for twenty years. I packed into my suitcase some clothes, food for the trip, and what was left of my money. It wasn't a very big suitcase, but it suited my needs. My scythe and my bo-staff were placed neatly in a special case designed to safely carry the both of them.

I looked at my scythe one more time before shutting the case. I picked up the my luggage and headed into the living room, where my parents were waiting for me, ready to say "good-bye." I walked up to them and put my bags down for a moment so I could give them both another hug before I left.

"I'll let you know when I get settled in Midgar, ok?"

"Be sure to write to us every day, ok? So we know you haven't forgotten us," mom asked the favor.

"Heh! Sure, mom," I laughed.

"Be careful, pumpkin," my dad said, "It's a long way from here to Midgar and there's bound to be lots of monsters on the way."

"Not really dad," I assured him, "I'll be going on chocobo, and they tend to avoid monsters, and Jamie's a pretty reliable chocobo when it comes to finding monsters and evading them."

I stepped back and picked up my bags again, and we all walked through the door together. My parents stopped right by the doorway while I kept going toward Will's place. After walking a couple of yards away from the house, I stopped and turned back to look at my parents again. They waved good-bye, and I waved back as best I could with my diminutive suitcase in my hand. I turned back around and started walking again, but then I stopped for a split second before breaking into a run. I was really excited. I couldn't wait to get to the chocobo stable, and I knew it was going to take me a while if I walked. So I decided to run the rest of the way. All that excitement and I hadn't even left the town yet.

When I finally got to Will's chocobo stable, Will was actually there. I was also exhausted from running most of the way, so I sat down on the ground as soon as I got there, panting and gasping for air.

"Gee, Moira, are you in THAT much of a hurry to leave Kalm?" Will asked as soon as I sat down.

"Nah…." I sighed and continued panting, "Just excited."

"Well, now you have to wait until you catch your breath before you go anywhere," he pointed out as he walked over someplace and filled a cup with some sort of liquid. He came back and handed me a cup of water. "Don't go killin' yourself before you start your independent life."

I drank up the water and caught my breath. I then got back up and gave the proper greeting. "Anyway, hey Will. Hey Jamie."

"Wark!" Jamie greeted back happily. I could tell he was also excited about the trip. He ruffled his feathers every so often.

 "So you're finally leavin' the nest, Moira?" Will asked looking at my luggage.

"Yea, Will. Heading for Midgar."

"Mm-hmm. And I'm guessing that there's a scythe in that rather large weapon case."

"Yes, there most certainly is." I popped open the case and pulled out the scythe. He examined it carefully. "I wanted to show it to you the moment I got it, but you were off at the ranch and I was stuck here for hours listening to that cousin of yours."

"Yes, Big Mouth Willy. Sorry about that. He likes to hear himself talk."

"No kidding. I almost didn't get away."

"He was the closest living relative who could take care of chocobos, and I was in a hurry to get to the ranch as soon as possible."

"What happened at the ranch that was so important?"

"Chocobos. Some big shots were renting all the stables so they could park all their chocobos for a while."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Well, the thing is they had so many chocobos that there weren't enough stables to hold them all."

"Oh," I replied, "So what did you do?"

"What we did was we fit all the chocobos we could into the stables and left the rest of 'em outside in the pen. I thought I saw a summon materia on one of the ones outside, but I didn't really have the time to look or ask about it."

"Wow," I responded. After hearing the story I looked down at my scythe and remembered that I was showing it to him. "Oh, yea. Do you like my scythe?"

"It's a beauty of a weapon," he commented, "but it seems to be missin' somethin'."

I looked at the scythe thinking, "What could possibly be missing?"

"Missing?" I asked out loud.

"Yup, there's definitely something missing," he said in a firm voice, "Wouldn't you agree Jamie?"

"Wark!" Jamie agreed.

That's when I suspected they were up to something, because I thought to myself "What would a chocobo know about weapons aside from their beaks and talons?"

"Ok, I give up. What's missing?"

Will looked over to Jamie, who just stood there in his stable looking back at Will. He dipped his head down and scuffled around a bit, as if trying to pick something up. When he lifted his head back up he pulled out a small white box that was tied shut with a string. Jamie held it by the string in his beak and gave out a happy "Wark wark!"

"Happy Birthday!" Will said looking back at me with a smile.

I held out my hand under the box. Jamie bit down with his beak to break the string and dropped the box into my hand. Taped to the box was a card with a little chicobo drawing on the front. I opened the card and read it out loud.

"From one good friend to another. Happy Birthday, Moira! From: Will"

"Look at the back," said Will.

I turned the card around so I could see the back. There was a message followed by an itty-bitty chocobo footprint.

"Wark Warrk, Wark!" I read out loud.

"Of course that's Jamie's little 'Happy Birthday' greeting to you," Will announced, "So the gift is from the both of us."

"Wark!" Jamie blurted out happily.

I opened the lid of the box to find a Magic Materia with a flame symbol inside.

"Allow me," Will said as he walked up to me and took the material out of the box. He placed it on the other side of the scythe from the two my parents gave me, in a linked slot.

"There ya go. A Fire Materia to go with the Ice and Lightning Materias on the other side of the scythe."

I held my scythe in my hand for a moment, looking at the three magic materias that adorned it.

"Thanks," I said to Will as I looked up at him and then at Jamie. I put my free hand on Jamie's beak.

"It was given to me by my brother, William. He liked combat a lot, and I guess he was trying to encourage me to try that kind of lifestyle. I thought many times of gettin' rid of it, but when you came around, I figured I'd keep it so I could give it to ya when the time was right. And now seems like a great time."

I started petting Jamie, "This has been the only Happy Birthday I've ever had."

"Well, be sure not to forget about us once you're a big important scythe-fighter in Midgar."

I looked back at Will as I continued petting Jamie. "I couldn't forget my two best friends in the whole wide world."

I stopped petting Jamie and walked over to the open case to put away my scythe. When I latched the case shut, Will walked over and picked up my suitcase.

"Well, we might as well get you ready to go," he said almost grunting as he carried my small (and I guess heavy) suitcase with both of his hands to the back door to be strapped onto a chocobo saddle.

********        ********        ********

I pressed my body close to Jamie's as he ran almost as fast as he could, head down, wings half-open. He was getting ready for take-off. Jamie was the only chocobo I ever knew that had the ability to fly. I discovered this one night when I was out training. I encountered a monster I'd never seen before and challenged it to a battle. Unfortunately, this monster's mouth was bigger than my body and took my challenge as an invitation to eat me. I ran off quickly, jumped onto Jamie, and told him to run as fast as he could. He saw the monster rushing towards us, and he didn't argue. Though he did run as fast as he could, A few moments later, Jamie suddenly jumped into the air and kept going up. I nearly fell off in the process, but once I managed to get a good grip on Jamie, I realized that we were flying. After that we practiced flying at least one night a week. That night we were flying to Midgar. The trip was going to be easy because I was told to just follow the bright light on the horizon, since Midgar was the only big city on this side of the continent.

Once Jamie was ready for take-off, I tapped the back of his neck, which was the signal for when I was ready. Jamie opened his wings completely and began flapping. A few moments later, we were off the ground. We went higher and higher until Kalm looked further away than it actually was. It looked like a toy town from where we were and still getting smaller as we stopped our ascent and kept moving further away.

Flying was an amazing thing. Everything looked different. The sky seemed so much closer; at least the clouds did anyway. It almost seemed like you could just go up and pluck a cloud out of the sky.

We flew for a few hours before landing to take a break. I gave Jamie some water and some Gysahl Greens, which I heard was a chocobo's favorite green. Then I also had some water. Once Jamie was finished we took off again.

After a few more hours, I finally saw some sort of structure to go with the light. I didn't know what to expect of Midgar, since I'd never seen it for myself. I'd only seen it on TV in documentaries. The city itself was all in one humungous structure. It was circular in shape and separated into eight equal-sized sectors. Each of these sectors was their own little community within Midgar. There were actually two separate communities to each sector in Midgar. There were the rich cities on the plates, which were held up by large pillars and the mako reactors that powered each sector. And there were the dirty, poorly put together slums on the ground below the plates. I figured if I flew I could get to the plate without having to go through the slums.

The man in charge of Midgar was President Shin-Ra, founder of the Shin-Ra Electric Company and Midgar. He wasn't really a very interesting man. His son, Rufus, was attractive though, but that was about it. Rufus Shin-Ra was the vice-president of the Shin-Ra Company and of Midgar. So if President Shin-Ra died, his son would take over. Midgar was really the only city I knew that used mako for power. Mako is magical energy. I wasn't sure where they got all the mako from, but it seemed to be the most efficient source of electric power in existence. The only other use for mako that I could think of at the time was to make materia by means of condensing the mako.

Flying over Midgar was incredible. The cities themselves only occupied half of each sector's plate. I could see the Shin-Ra building that stood tall and proud at the very center of Midgar. There were eight bursts of green glowing steam around the outside of the building, each at the point where the building bordered a sector. The reactors on the outer edge of the cities were massive. They had large holes on top that glowed a bright green color, which I assumed was the mako.

We found an empty corner of the plate to land in, far from any people. I got off Jamie and unstrapped my luggage. I put it down for a moment and looked up at Jamie, who was standing in front of me, face to face and nose to beak. I lifted my hand up and petted his beak. He pushed his head forward and nuzzled me.

"Bye Jamie," I said finally, "It's been great."

"Wark!" He agreed.

"Maybe we'll meet again someday."

"Wark!"

"Alrighty then." I patted the top of his head and picked up my bags. "See ya later then."

"Wark wark!" He turned around and took off. He was on his was back home to Kalm, and I was on my way to starting my own life in Midgar.


	4. Ch 3: The SOLDIER

Chapter III 

**The SOLDIER**

(Two Years Later)

I sat at the bar, sipping my beer and pondering what I have done with the past two years of my life. When I arrived, I expected to find excitement. I never found that rumored training facility in Sector 3 or in any of the eight sectors of Midgar for that matter. I searched every sector and asked around, but nobody seemed to be in the business of martial arts training. I found this odd because Midgar was huge. I didn't think there was any way that there would NOT be what I was looking for. I even tried going down to the slums to see if there was one there, but to no avail.

After a couple of weeks, I gave up and bought a small apartment not far from the Shinra building on the Sector 3 Plate. I applied for several positions at Shinra, several times for each of them. With the money leftover from buying the scythe, I was able to support myself for a couple of months while I tried to find work. When they finally decided to hire me, they started me off as one of the president's foot soldiers. I eventually worked my way up the ranks up to security guard, which really wasn't that high up the ranks. From there, I started out guarding entrances to parties and conventions. Then moved up to guarding concert entrances, and eventually I ended up at the most boring thing in the whole world to guard, the door to the meeting room in the Shinra building. Meetings didn't happen very often right then, so I usually had plenty of time to myself. When there was a meeting, I'd be paid plenty to keep my life on track, since guarding the President's meeting room was like guarding the President himself.

I would often write home to mom and dad at Kalm and ask how everyone was doing. When they wrote back asking about how my life was going, I mostly answered with a made up story about how exciting my life was. I sometimes asked about Will and Jamie. Jamie made it safely home, and as it turned out, and Will let Jamie back into the wild soon after his return from Midgar.

My mom often asked in her letters if I had a boyfriend. I explained that I wasn't interested in dating anyone. I've never found a man that was able to catch my attention, unless he was trying to break into something while I was on duty. After living in Midgar a year or so, I began thinking that all men in Midgar were morons trying to get a bedtime partner, so I tried to avoid them when possible. I sometimes wondered what it must've been like to fall in love and have the other person love and respect you back, but I never really desired it. Or so I thought.

The bar was rather empty that night. It was mostly because most of the regulars, who were mostly Shinra soldiers, were at a special ceremony honoring the town of Nibelheim. Nibelheim was a small town far away from Midgar. The TV at the bar was showing the broadcast of ceremony. The announcers had those annoying sports-like voices. I was on my fifth pint of beer when I decided to look up and listen to the TV.

"…as today marks five years since the terrible fire that destroyed the innocent town of Nibelheim. The latest rumor on the incident is that a man in black named Sephiroth…"

"Rumors," I mocked, "Is that all these idiots have to go by? All these people died five years ago and nobody tries to figure out what actually happened?"

The bartender, Joe, was wiping a mug dry with a rag at the moment and also watching the TV. Joe and I got to know each other soon after I became a regular at his bar. I always sat alone at the same stool at the counter and always just ordered beer. He knew me for my scythe, which I almost always kept with me, I knew him because he was the bartender. He was a man in his forties with a few gray hairs. He was at least a foot shorter than I was and had a little potbelly. We sometimes talked to each other a little. That day, it was about the stuff in the broadcast.

"I dunno," he answered, "All I know about that town is that the Shinra Mansion's over there, and that the mansion was the only thing that stayed in one piece after the fire. I think they use it as a tourist attraction now."

"And they rebuilt the whole town soon after it was burned to ashes and dust," I added, "What I don't understand is why they put in hired actors to act like the townspeople instead of leaving it like a REAL town and letting people move in."

"I guess they just wanted to keep alive the memory of all the people whose lives were lost in the destruction."

"Isn't that what religion is for?" I asked bitterly and coldly. I guess that fifth pint was a little too much.

A second later I heard footsteps walk up behind me. I turned around to get a good look at this stranger. He wore a strange purple outfit, a skintight, sleeveless, turtleneck shirt and baggy pants. On each shoulder he had armor that was twice as big as the shoulder, at least an inch and a half thick. Each piece had two blunt spikes sticking out on top. His belt was also a piece of armor. It was a good two or three inches wide. He wore thick black gloves and wrist armor twice as thick as his arm. His hair was in a braid that went down to his knees and the color was somewhere between dark brown and black. His eyes were a bright green. In fact, they were so bright they were almost glowing. On his left arm, he had a tattoo of the Roman number XVII. I immediately recognized the uniform.

He was a member of SOLDIER, a highly elite organization in the Shinra military. They go through intense training and at the end they are exposed to a high amount of mako energy, an operation courtesy of Professor Hojo, the President's hired scientist and inventor. The SOLDIERs were skilled warriors, and the most famous SOLDIER was Sephiroth.

"There's nothing sadder than a raving drunken woman," said the stranger from SOLDIER as he sat at the stool to the right of me.

"Oh, shut up!" I snapped at him.

"Geez, you're nice!" He replied sarcastically.

"What'll it be?" Joe asked him because it was his job.

"I'll have a Brave Moomba," answered the stranger. Joe poured a few different liquids into a mug and handed the man his drink.

"Brave Moomba?" I wondered out loud, "Who comes up with the names for these drinks?"

"For your information, Miss Lenore, the drinks in this bar are of my creation," answered Joe, "And the names I chose to give them suits them fine. If you'd order something other than beer, you might've noticed that by now."

The stranger turned to me and looked at me for a while.

"What is it? Did your boyfriend recently dump you or something?"

"I've never had one, so I wouldn't know what that's like."

"How odd. I should think a lovely woman such as yourself would've had plenty of boyfriends by now. Well, maybe that's your problem," he said calmly as he sipped his drink, "The name's Raven. And you are?"

"Not interested," I answered in a dull tone.

"Hmm, easily angered."

"Nah," Joe butted in, "just when she's drunk."

"Really?" Raven replied, "How is she when she's sober?"

Before Joe could open his mouth, "Bored out of my wits because of my oh-so-exciting job!" I burst out.

"Really? What do you do?"

I did a quick nod to Joe, and he ducked down behind the counter. He came back up a second later holding my scythe in his hands.

"I hold that while standing in front of a door hoping some idiot would at least TRY to break in."

I looked over at Raven, who seemed to be lost in thought staring at my scythe.

"What, does my favorite toy scare the baby boy?" I mocked.

"You don't actually use that, do you?"

"Why do you think good ol' Joe keeps it behind the counter?"

"I normally don't confiscate weapons," Joe began, "mostly because most of my regulars are armed soldiers who know not to use their weapons out of duty. Then one day, some guy pissed her off while she was drunk."

"And?" Raven urged.

"A few seconds later I had to call a clean-up crew to pick up his decapitated body."

"Good Lord! What did he do?!"

Joe put the scythe back behind the counter.

"He was hitting on me," I answered just before taking another sip of my beer. The mug was almost empty after that sip.

"Dah!" his response as he cringed into his stool, "You weren't kidding when you said you weren't interested."

"No kidding?" I answered sarcastically, "What could've POSSIBLY given you THAT crazy idea?"

"Crimeny, Woman!" he yelled out, "It's almost as if you didn't WANT a more exciting life!"

"First of all, the name's Moira!" I snapped, "NOT Woman!"

"Wow! I got your first name!"

"Second of all, I -"

"Don't want a love life," he interrupted, "Got it."

"I just don't see how love can be any more exciting than guarding President Shinra's meeting room door."

"Well, that's because you've never tried it for yourself, but I see now that you're just not interested and nothing's gonna change you're mind. So I'm not pushing any further."

"Good." I sipped what was left of my beer and got up off my stool.

"Leaving so soon?" Raven whined.

"Yea," I answered as I began walking away, "I think I've had enough."

"Enough beer or enough of me?"

"Both," I growled walking away from the counter and out the door. I waited outside the door for a while as Joe came up with my scythe in his hand.

"Miss Lenore," he started, "Might I suggest you not be so negative about things? You're just about my most violent customer."

"And?" I asked dully.

"And I think you're like this because you're lonely and in need of a companion."

I looked down at Joe for a bit. "What?"

"That's right. I think you're angry and violent because you're lonely."

"That's pretty corny, Joe," I replied.

"Well, unlike the guy you so casually beheaded, this Raven guy was sober when he started putting the moves on you."

"Sober? Really? How interesting. NOT!"

"Ya know, maybe I should try talking to you when YOU'RE sober. The beer makes you unreasonable."

"Yea, and you would know how reasonable I am when I'm sober?"

"I have a pretty good idea, considering you walk in nice and calm and walk out in a state of utter gloom."

"Nice and calm, right." I rolled my eyes and looked back at Joe.

"The point I'm trying to make is you should at least try this Raven guy out. Get to know him, and give him a chance to get to know you."

This was beginning to sound fishy to me. Joe's never insisted that I try anything, unless it's to try and order something other than beer.

"Ok, what's going on? Who is he and why are you insisting that I go out with him?"

He looked nervous after that, and I was willing to bet he was glad he was the one holding the scythe and not me.

"Ah, I, uh, well, you see, um-"

"Enough with the interrupting verbs! Just tell me! Who is he?"

"Ok, ok," he answered and took a deep breath, "His name is Alan Usher, but everyone calls him Raven. He's a first class SOLDIER and pretty good with pistol-blades."

"Wow, a SOLDIER," I replied sarcastically, "As if I couldn't tell by the doofy purple uniform and the Roman number tattooed on his arm. Oh, and not to mention that freaky green glow in his eyes that say that he's had some of Hojo's mako treatment."

"Hey, I know this guy pretty well. He's my best friend's nephew. I've seen him in the bar a lot, and he's had his eye on you for some time."

"Uh-huh," I replied rather bored of the ongoing conversation that was leading nowhere, "And?"

"And he's asked me to try and talk to you about it in the very likely event that he should fail to charm you."

"Oh gee Joe, I dunno," I responded sarcastically, "For some reason, the thought of going out with some mako-driven punk in a purple jumpsuit doesn't exactly sound like a fun idea to me."

"Well, at least it's better than the life you're leading now."

"Can I have my scythe back?" I was getting tired of the discussion and wanted to leave. I reached my hand out to grab the scythe, but he pulled it away before I could touch it.

"Not until you agree to try him out."

"Will you stop saying 'try him out?!' You make it seem like he was some sort of totally new outfit or a foreign snack food or something!"

"Well, fine! Just go out with him for a while. Talk to him at least, and no, those cynical remarks you used tonight don't count. So in other words, while you're SOBER!"

"Ugh! Come on!" I was getting frustrated and really didn't want to agree with this deal, but I knew he wasn't giving me my scythe back no matter how long I went on. And I was too drunk to think of just snatching the scythe away.

"You don't have to date him for very long. Just go on one or two dates, have a couple of lunches together, and get to know each other. If you still don't like him after a couple of weeks, all you have to do is just break up with him. It's as simple as that. Girls your age do that all the time."

"You mean girls UNDER my age. The only reason any girls my age would do anything like that is if they started that habit early in life."

"Hey, if they can do it, why can't you?"

He made it seem simple, but I knew there were many other factors involved in a relationship. Though, at the moment all I cared about was shutting him up, and I wasn't in any condition to think about things like that.

"Ok, fine! I'll go out with him! Just give me my scythe back!"

"Alrighty then," he said calmly as he handed me my scythe.

"Later." I took my scythe and went on my way home.

When I was halfway there, a small creature popped up in front of me.

"Kupo! Hi, Miss Moira!" It yelled out happily as I kept walking with it floating in front of me. It was a small creature, probably about a foot tall. It looked like a pink koala, but with really small cat-like ears and slits for eyes. It had small, dark pink, bat-like wings on its back and a pom-pom thing dangling on a wire growing out of its head. This little creature was a moogle, and a very annoying one at that.

"Go away, Bibble!" I groaned, not in the mood to deal with her. I always found her annoying for several reasons. One of them was that she had this uncanny ability to read my mind and the annoying habit of reading it when she was least welcome.

"Eww, you're drunk!" She tended to speak in this annoyingly childish tone.

"So what's it to you?"

"Kupo! But you're gonna have a headache in the morning!"

"Just that? Wow, interesting. Go away."

"And it is most certainly not the right way to make a first impression on a guy like Mr. Raven, kupo."

"I am not interested in 'Mr. Raven' thank you."

"I know, but you DID just agreed to go out with him, kupo, even if it was just to shut up nice old Joe."

"Why won't you just leave me alone?"

"Aww, fine! Be that way, kupo!"

"Fine, I will! Just leave!"

"Cranky-face meany! Kupo!"

"I could've called you names and sliced you in half. That would've been even meaner."

"Kupo! But you CAN'T slice me in half. I'm immortal and indestructible, 'member?"

"Grrrr..."

"You're no fun to talk to when you're drunk, kupo."

"So I hear."

"And you're almost home, so I'm leaving now. Bye, Miss Moira."

"Good."

I got home and went straight to bed.

I awoke the next morning to a knock on the door. I got up out of bed, and then I wished I hadn't.

"Oooooh…" I groaned as my head started pounding. I once again lectured to myself, "That's what you get with five pints of beer."

I grogged my way over to the door. I looked through the peek-hole in the door to see who it was, but all I saw was a big fat rose. I opened the door and found Raven standing there with a fresh cut red rose in his hand and a dopey-looking grin on his face. He wasn't wearing his SOLDIER uniform this time. Instead he was wearing a gray suit with a white shirt and a red bowtie. I didn't get why he would wear such a thing.

"Good morning, Sweet Lady!" He greeted.

I stared at him sleepily and angrily. I didn't quite appreciate being caught in my pajamas; especially by someone I had only met the night before at a bar.

"Morning?" I uttered, "Why'd you come in the morning? And what's with the fancy-shmancy threads?"

"I thought we should get an early start. When Joe came back into the bar and told me that you agreed to go out with me, I figured you might want to spend a day to get to know me. The suit is just for formal show. I wanna make a good impression on the girl I'm trying to get a date with."

"Early start... Good impression... Thing... " I repeated, but it wasn't quite processing yet. "What?"

"Well, we have to start sometime, right?"

"Uh-huh..." I must've had a dead tired version of the spaced out look on my face because a few moments later, he stepped up close to me so his face was inches from mine and said, "You're not so hung over that you forgot about your little agreement last night, are you?"

I had to think about that for a moment, but then I remembered agreeing to go out with him. Then I thought to myself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

"Did you forget about me?" he asked with a pouty five-year-old look on his face. "Please say you didn't."

"No," I finally got my brain working properly, "I just wasn't fully awake yet. It takes me longer to get myself thinking straight when I've been rudely awakened, especially the morning after I've been drinking."

"Oh, ok," he replied. About two seconds later, he held up the rose and said, "Flower for the lovely lady?"

I took the rose and looked back at him. I saw a pathetic smile on his face and a look in his eyes that said, "She's hot."

The look on his face just seemed so ridiculous to me that I couldn't help but start laughing.

"Huh?" his reaction to my laughter. "What's so funny?"

I just continued laughing, but by then it sounded more like giggles.

"What?! Is there something in my nose? In my hair? What?"

"Oh, just come in," I invited and he stepped into my living room. "Have a seat."

He sat down on the couch as I set the rose in a vase. "Would you like anything to drink?"

"Anything with caffeine, please," he answered. He just sort of quietly sat there slouched over on the couch as I went over to the kitchen and took a headache pill, watered the vase, and brewed some coffee. I then put the vase on the windowsill above my kitchen sink.

When I was done making the coffee, walked out of the kitchen and into the living room with two mugs of coffee in my hands. I found Raven hunched over on the couch. He seemed to be just staring at his shoes.

"So," I decided to speak up quite loudly. He jumped up and quickly looked around and seemed to just realize he was in my living room. "Geez, did I take that long?"

"Oh! Um, well, hehe... This couch is just so comfy, you know?"

I handed him his coffee. "This should keep you awake."

"Heh. Thanks." He sipped a little of his coffee and set the mug on a coaster on the coffee table in front of him.

"Alright, Mr. Allen Usher," I started as I sat on my recliner a few feet away from the couch.

"Please. Call me Raven."

"Ok, Raven. Tell me about yourself."

"Ah, me first, huh?"

"Yup, you first."

"Well, where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning is always a safe place to start."

"Well, ok then."

So he began telling me his life story. We went sipping our coffee as we talked.

"Well, I was born in Mideel," he started, "Undoubtedly, the most boring town anywhere."

"Well, you've never been to Kalm."

"Actually, yes, I have been to Kalm. In fact, it was during the Tournament of the Blade. Now don't tell me that Kalm is dull with an annual event like that. Mideel has NOTHING. Nothing remotely interesting EVER happens. The most exciting thing about Mideel is the giant windmill in the middle."

"Isn't Mideel also where you can get the most info on the Lifestream."

"Ya, only because everyone's obsessed with it. It's all anyone ever talks about over there. It's always 'Lifestream' this and 'Lifestream' that. Quite frankly, I don't find it remotely interesting. What could possibly be so interesting about some glowing underground river that nobody knows even exists? I was never one who liked studying things or reading textbooks for fun. I always desired action and technology, which by the way is ALSO not found in Mideel."

"Lemme guess, the greatest piece of technology there is the windmill?"

"Exactly. So, when I became old enough to move out, I came straight to Midgar, the city of pure technology."

"I think it looks awesome from high above, where you can see all the reactors and the Shinra building and how everything is connected. You don't quite see that when you're living in it."

"Ya, I guess so. I joined the army almost as soon as I got here. I later discovered this really new weapon called the pistol blade. It's like half handgun and half knife. Good for both far and close range."

"Interesting weapon."

"Ya, and later I signed up for SOLDIER. I didn't really think I could make it in because it was rumored that they only take guys from Nibelheim, but then I got accepted and was well on my way. I got the uniform. I went to Hojo for the mako treatment."

"What's that for anyway?"

"I have no idea. Hojo said it was for enhancing your skills as a fighter, but so far I haven't seen any difference in my skills other than what I get from regular training and practicing. As far as I'm concerned, it's a placebo."

"It made your eyes glow green. So you can't say it did nothing."

"Yea, they were originally dark blue."

"So, then what?"

"After successfully joining SOLDIER, I found out a friend of my uncle's also lived in Midgar, namely Joe. So I became a regular at the bar after that, but I don't really drink a lot there."

"And how did you get the rank of First Class SOLDIER?"

"Lots of hard work, lots of missions, and lots of patience."

"Cool."

"So what's your story? How did you wind up in the drunken mess you were in?"

"My story started in Kalm..." I went on to tell my story. I told of how I've always wanted a scythe. I told him how I met Jamie, how Will helped me accomplish my goal, and how I flew to Midgar.

"Wow! It must've been awesome flying over Midgar, seeing the Shinra building right there in the middle and all the mako reactors."

"Yea, it was an amazing sight."

"And it must've been really cool to have your own chocobo."

"Well, technically he wasn't really my chocobo. He was Will's."

"Yea, but in essence he was actually your chocobo. You were the one who named him. You were the one who rode him every night. You were the one who taught him how to fly and trained him to master it. You flew with him all the way to Midgar."

"Yea, Jamie was a wonderful chocobo."

"And ever since you settled down here, Joe's been your only friend?"

"Well, he listens to me rant about how much I hate my life, and he hasn't complained about it yet."

"It's not his job to complain to the customers."

"My point is he listens."

"Hmm... I guess it just happens when you've been a bartender as long as he has."

"The truth is I never really wanted to be a security guard."

"Then, why did you end up being one?"

"Lack of options I guess. I think I would've tried to join SOLDIER if they allowed women on."

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow at me. "I thought you said we were all just a bunch of mako-driven punks in purple jumpsuits."

"Uh...!" I blushed, embarrassed hearing my own words thrown back at me. "I... uh..."

"You were drunk," Raven answered for me, "People say things they don't mean when they're drunk."

"Eh, heh-heh-heh... Well, That's no excuse..."I chuckled, rather embarrassed.

"You're cute when you blush."

"Um..." I hesitated a bit. "Do you wanna go for a walk? I think we should go for a walk."

"Need some fresh air, huh? Alright, let's go for a walk." We both picked up our empty coffee mugs, and he followed me into the kitchen. We left our mugs on the counter and back out to the living room.

"I think you should change first," Raven suggested, noticing that I was still wearing my pajamas.

"Yea, I think that would help." I went to my room and changed, and we walked out the door.

"So, where are we going?" He asked almost eager to know.

"Uh, out," I answered.

"Out? Out where?"

"Out there. Out to walk around."

"How 'bout the Shinra Park?" He suggested with a smirk in his voice, as if he planned to go there from the beginning.

"Shinra Park?" I looked at him suspiciously.

"Yup."

"All the way at the edge of Sector One?"

"That's the one."

"Uh, ok." We walked up the street for a bit.

"How did you know where I live?"

"A little moogle told me."

I thought about it for a moment. The only moogle I knew about was Bibble.

"Did this moogle happen to be pink with a blue pom-pom dangling over her head?"

"...Huh?"

"...Never mind."

"Joe was the one who told me where you lived."

"...Oh." I felt foolish for a few seconds, because as far as the average person is concerned, moogles are nothing more than magical myth and legend. Like the Golden Chocobo and the Knights of the Round summon materia, nobody thinks it really exists. After getting over the embarrassment, I decided to change the subject back to what was happening at the moment.

"So, how exactly are we going to get to Shinra Park? Sector One is not exactly up the block and 'round the corner."

As I was saying this, he looked like he was looking around on the street for something.

"You'll see," He answered as he stared far down the street behind us, and seemed to have found what he was looking for. "There he is."

"There who is?"

"Hang on a sec." He waved his hand high in the air, as if to signal someone where he was. I was beginning to wonder whether or not he was in his right mind, but then a chocobo-drawn carriage rushed up next to us. It was a really fancy carriage, just like the ones that were used in the old days, with no roof or walls so you could see everything. It had two rows of passenger seats, one in front facing backwards, and one in the rear facing forwards. There were two chocobos pulling the carriage, directed by the carriage driver who wore a really fancy suit and a hat with a chocobo feather in it.

"...Woah," I was amazed. Raven stepped next to the carriage and held out his hand toward me.

"Milady?" He said, faking a fancy accent. I smiled and took his hand. I sat on the rear seat, and Raven quickly followed me up and sat next to me. He put his arm on the back of the chair behind me. The ride was a little bumpy on the way, but it was an exciting experience. I'd never ridden in a chocobo carriage before, so I sat back and enjoyed the view. I was letting myself get lost in daydreaming thought when Raven spoke.

"First time in a carriage?" He asked.

"Uh, yea," I answered, "I've never really done anything exciting after moving to Midgar, other than wander around the entire place as soon as I got here."

"Was it interesting in the slums?"

"It's filthy, the people are poor, and the atmosphere is terrible."

"Do you mean atmosphere as in the not-so-breathable air, or do you mean atmosphere as in how comfortable it wasn't."

"Both. It smelled awful and I didn't feel safe at all while I was there. I felt way better after getting back up to the plates."

"Uh, how did you get back up? Because I keep hearing that it's way more difficult going from slum to plate than it is from plate to slum."

"The mako reactors. For each reactor, there's an entrance in the slums and an entrance on the plate. It took me a while to get through either way. Those reactors are huge, and they're built like mazes."

"Wow! That's great for a newcomer to Midgar. Who would've thought you could be beautiful, tough, and smart?" He seemed really impressed by it, leaning back into his seat looking up at the sky. It was almost as if he was falling further in love with me the more I talked about myself.

"Yea, well..." I was about to say something when I noticed a large entrance sign passing by that said "Shinra Park."

"Uh, Raven? I think we just passed the park."

He snapped out of his trance and looked back to see the sign.

"Damn! You're right!" He told the driver to stop the carriage and we got off at least half a block away from the park. He got off first and held out his hand to help me off. I accepted his hand and stepped off onto the sidewalk.

As we started walking toward the park entrance, I began to wonder how I got myself into this mess. I thought to myself, "You shouldn't be dating anyone. You don't NEED anyone. Why ruin your life with just another love story ending in heartache?"

"Are you ok?" He snapped me out of my train of thought as we arrived at the park entrance. He looked concerned.

"Yea," I answered, "I just never thought I'd ever go out with anyone."

"You thought you were doomed to forever be a security guard with no other purpose in life?"

"Heh, yea basically."

"You never really wanted to be a security guard, did you?" he asked.

"No, not really. I actually wanted to lead an exciting life full of adventure and life-threatening danger."

"Sounds like the dreams of members of SOLDIER."

"Do SOLDIERs do anything interesting?"

"We get sent to various towns around the world, mostly just to protect the town and its people from monsters coming in from the outside of town."

"I remember a SOLDIER visiting our town when I was young. It was during the Tournament of the Blade."

"That's always been my favorite event. I watch it on TV every year."

"So do I. Though when I still lived there, I watched it live and then later on TV. The guy from SOLDIER participated in the tournament."

"Hey, I remember that! It was a really long time ago. I was around nine eight or nine years old when it happened. Sephiroth was over there."

"Yup, and he won too. I was in the front row watching the whole thing."

"Wow, that must've been amazing."

"Yea, it was one of the more exciting events of my life."

"Well, I hope I'm able to make your life a little more interesting."

"You know what? In a way, so am I."

We walked on through the park, looking at the squirrels playing on the grass around the trees. Passing the chicobo-breeding center, where they bred chicobos, baby chocobos, and raised them to become some of Shinra's top transports. The breeding center was opened to visitors to see the little chicobos. We decided to go there and see the chicobos. It looked a little bit like an aquarium, but with dirt and dry grass instead of water. Some of the "tanks" each had a newly hatched chicobo while others had some older chicobos that had just grown in their fluffy feathers.

"They are so adorable!" I squealed out looking at one of the tiny chocobos. I just about surprised myself, because I'd never talked that way before.

"So, you like the chicobos?" An old stranger spoke up out of nowhere. I looked up at him to see who he was. He looked like he was in his late fifties or something. He somehow looked familiar to me, but I couldn't quite figure out why.

"Hey, William!" Raven greeted.

"Allen, m'boy! Long time no see! And who's yer lovely friend?"

"Her name's Moira."

"Hi," I greeted.

"Moira? You wouldn't happen to be Will's little Moira Lenore, would ya?"

"You know Will?"

"_Know_ him?! He's my brother! You would not believe how much he talks about you. The last thing I heard from him was that you moved over to Midgar, and since then I've wanted to meet you."

"Wow, I'm famous."

"Yup."

"This was quite unexpected," Raven added.

"No kidding," I replied. "I never thought I'd see one of Will's relatives here in Midgar."

"Well, we're all over the place," William responded.

"Does your whole family take care of chocobos? I know there's Bill and his son, Billy, at the Chocobo Ranch, and Will has a small stable just outside of Kalm."

"Yes, just about all of us are in the chocobo business. Bill and Billy are my nephews. If you want I can show you where the chicobo petting zoo is."

"Petting zoo?"

"Ya, that's where we keep our chicobos that can walk and squawk like an adult chocobo. The visitors come to pet 'em a lot, and they're just the friendliest little things."

"Sure," I answered and we walked through a hall and a door to get to the petting zoo. There were chicobos all over the place. Some were running, some were sitting, and some were jumping in the air flapping their little wings making little "wark" noises.

"Here ya go, kids. Enjoy. I have some hatchling chicobos to feed, so I'll have to leave you be."

"Okay William," Raven answered. "Later."

"Later, Allen. And it was a pleasure to meet you, Moira."

"Sure," I replied as he left. A small chicobo ran up and started rubbing its head on my leg.

"Wark!" he squeaked.

"Woah! Hey, cutie." I bent down and petted the little chicobo. Raven bent down next to me and petted him too. He fluttered his wings seconds later and started running circles around us. We sat down on the ground as this little chicobo kept going around us. When he was finished circling us, he starting doing a strange little dance. I laughed as I watched him. It was not just because he looked funny dancing around like he was, but also because it reminded me of the time I spent with Jamie.

"Hyper little guy, isn't he?" Raven spoke up.

"Yea, he reminds me of Jamie and all the fun we had together."

"Do you miss him?"

"Yea. And since Will set him loose, I'm probably never going to see him again."

"You never know. Maybe you'll be lucky and find each other again."

"You're probably right."

After a few minutes, some more chicobos came around. Within seconds we were surrounded by these little yellow feather dusters.

"I guess William wasn't kidding when he said the chicobos were friendly," I commented.

"No kidding."

We spent nearly an hour petting all the chicobos. When we were able to get out and back into the park, we walked around a bit more. As the day rolled on, I we went on getting to know each other. I found out that he got the nickname "Raven" from his hair. It was so dark, it could've almost been black, and his bangs stuck out in such a way that it looked a little bit like feathers.

It didn't seem like long at all before night fell, and the park was lit up with a series of lamps that lined the walkway. By that time, Raven and I had arrived at the very center of the park, where there was a large lake. There weren't any lights around the lake, but the light from the walkway, was enough to be able to see the surroundings. The moon was full and high in the sky, with its reflection dancing on the lake's surface. The only sounds were the chirping of crickets and the croaking of frogs, blending in rhythm and creating a natural symphony.

Raven and I walked around the lake until we found a wooden park bench to sit down on. We sat down and looked at the lake. There were a couple of ducks swimming around on it. I looked up to the sea of stars, revealed by the near lack of light around the lake.

"The sky is so beautiful tonight," I commented.

"Maybe," He replied. "But not as beautiful as you are."

I looked up at Raven, who apparently was looking at me from the moment we sat down. His glowing green eyes gleamed with emotion.

"Really?" Which was all I could think of saying.

"Yes. You are the most beautiful woman I've ever laid eyes on."

I never expected a comment like that. I just sat there, amazed that anyone would think that of me. Raven just sat there, as close to me as he possibly could with his arm behind me. At the same time he was respectfully keeping his distance by not putting his arm _around_ me. We were just staring at each other with our faces just inches away from each other. A moment later, Raven suddenly turned his face away, as if ashamed of something.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I shouldn't have said that."

I too turned away, trying to find something to say.

"No, I don't mind," I responded, "It's just that I'm not used to people saying things like that."

"Well, anyone who doesn't is a blind fool," he looked back up at me with a crooked smile on his face and the same gleam in his eyes. I looked back at him and smiled.

"How long have you had this feeling for me?"

"I don't really remember how long it's been, but I do remember that I first saw you in the 60th floor of the Shinra Building. I was talking to a few of my buddies from SOLDIER when I saw you standing in front of the elevator door."

"It was that long ago? That was less than a year ago, before they installed the key card readers into the elevators."

Raven scratched his head in embarrassment. "Um... Yea. It's been that long."

"Of all the things I was trained to notice, I didn't notice you at all."

"It happens. A couple of months ago, when I went to Joe and told him about you, that's when I found out that you were a regular at his bar. Since then, I sat at the corner table, watching you drink your way in and out night after night."

"Ok, that is _not_ one of my greatest traits, so why did you stay around?"

"I was hoping to get to know you once you actually knew I existed. A couple of nights ago I asked for Joe to help me to get your attention. The night after, I actually walked up and talked to you, failing miserably in making a good impression."

"The fact that I was drunk didn't help any."

"To put it lightly, it was a good thing that Joe had your scythe."

"Yea, that sounds about right."

"When Joe came back in and told me that you agreed to go out with me, I asked him how he did it. He didn't answer."

"He held my scythe hostage until I agreed to it."

"Yea, that sounds like something Ol' Joe would do," he chuckled.

"And in a way, I'm kinda glad he did. This has been the best day I've had in a really long time."

"I'm glad I was able to give you such a day."

Our eyes met again, this time it was as if they were magnetically locked on each other. It seemed like our faces just got closer and closer. They went from inches to centimeters to millimeters apart. Then... the ground started shaking violently.

"Woah!" I screamed and grabbed onto Raven as he wrapped his arms around me.

"Earthquake!" Someone yelled out somewhere.

Almost a second later, I heard the sound of a huge explosion in the distance. Raven and I held onto each other as the ground kept shaking. A few moments later, all the lights went out. When the ground finally settled down, I realized what I was holding on to and let go immediately. Raven was also rather embarrassed and let go at just about the same time.

"What just happened?" I asked with a shocked tone in my voice.

"I... I'm not sure," he answered nervously, "Whatever it was, we're gonna have to somehow find our way out of here in the dark."

"I wonder what that explosion was."

"I think right now our main concern is getting out of here."

We got up off of the bench and started walking. We had only walked for a few seconds when we found a bright light in our faces.

"Hello?" A woman's voice called out. "Is anyone there?"

"Yea!" Raven called back. "We're right here!"

"Ok, hang on!" The light became closer and brighter until the light moved aside to reveal a lantern held by a woman who looked like she was in her early thirties. She wore a brown Shinra Park employee uniform and a visor to match.

"Do you know what happened?" I asked.

"Other than the power went out, I don't know," she answered, "I don't think I can explain anything that just happened."

"Well, can you help us get out of here?" Raven asked.

"Yes I can, I was sent specifically to help evacuate the park." She turned around, pointing her lantern forward. "Follow me."

After a while of following, we picked up some more visitors that got lost in the dark. By the time we got back to the entrance, there were at least twenty people in our group. After leaving the park, we noticed that it wasn't just the park's electricity that went out. The entire area seemed to be left in the dark.

"Looks like the only light that hasn't failed us yet is the moon," Raven commented.

"I'd like to know what's going on," I replied.

"Well, I guess we'd have to get home to find that out."

"How do we get back to Sector Three?"

"Don't worry about it. We'll get there."

And he kept true to his word. We ended up renting two nighttime chocobos to get us through the sector. When we got to Sector Two, we noticed that the electricity there was still on. So we got off the chocobos and started looking for a different mode of transportation. We ended up taking a train to Sector Three, after which we walked the rest of the way. When we finally got to my house I was dead tired. I opened my front door and stepped through it. I turned back around and saw Raven just standing there, again looking at me as if I was the greatest thing in the whole world.

"It was some night, wasn't it?" I said.

"Yes, it sure was," he replied. "Let's hope our future dates don't turn out to be _that_ exciting."

"Hm."

There was a long pause after that.

"That is of course," he continued, "If there _will_ be any future dates."

"I'd like to think that there will be."

"Well, that's great! See you tomorrow then?"

"Sure, but not so early next time."

"How does three o'clock at Joe's sound?"

"Ok."

"Great!" He stepped up and took my hand. "Good night..." He pulled my hand up and kissed it. "Sweet Lady."

I smiled at his gesture, wondering where he learned his old-fashioned manners.

"Good night, Kind SOLDIER."

He started walking backwards for a little while, and then he turned around and headed home, occasionally turning around to see if I was still watching him leave. When he was out of my sight I shut the door and walked over to my bedroom. When I got there, I fell onto my bed and fell asleep almost instantly.


	5. Ch 4: AVALANCHE

Chapter IV 

**AVALANCHE**

(The Next Morning)

I sat on my couch, watching the TV and eating my breakfast.

"... , revealing that the cause of the sudden black out in Sector One is that the sector's mako reactor exploded. That's right, the Sector One Mako Reactor was destroyed last night, which also explains the 'earthquake' that accompanied the black out. The criminals behind this disaster were a group of terrorists known as AVALANCHE. President Shinra refused to comment on the matter..."

I sat there half-chewing my food, staring at the TV as they showed footage of people running and different angles of the reactor exploding. The structure of the building the reactor was contained in was still in tact, which kept the plate up where it was. I began to worry about what this AVALANCHE was going to do next. I quickly finished my breakfast and set the plate in the sink. When I got back to the couch, my phone rang. I picked it up and said, "Hello?"

"Lenore," It was my commander. "The president has called an emergency meeting. I'm making it your job to guard it."

"So what else is new, Sir? I always guard the president's meetings."

"It's amazing you made it so far up the ranks with that attitude of yours. Get over there, A.S.A.P.!"

"Yes, Sir." I hung up and got off the couch to get ready for work. I got dressed and brushed my hair. When I was sure I looked decent I picked up my scythe, walked out the door, and headed toward the Shinra building.

********        ********        ********

It was a trip and a half getting to work. I first had to get from my apartment to the Shinra building at the very center of Midgar, which was fairly easy considering how close to it my apartment was. I just had to walk a few blocks down the street to get to the building. The Shinra building consisted of sixty-nine floors. The first two floors were the gift shops and the displays of Shinra's mako-powered vehicles. The floors between two and fifty-nine were always a complete mystery to me. I guess they were office floors or something. The fifty-ninth and sixtieth floors consist of people guarding the floors above, where the President and his top employees go about their businesses. The sixty-first floor was basically a huge break room. There were all sorts of snack bars and coffee bars and tables set all over the place. I sometimes stopped there on my way to work when I had the time and had some coffee. The entire sixty-ninth floor was the president's office. I only went there once with my commander to be introduced as the new guard for the meeting room. His desk was at least twice the size of a regular office desk. The office walls were entirely made up of windows, which gave the president an excellent view of Midgar and the lands beyond it. The sixty-sixth floor was where the meeting room was.

The longest part of the entire trip to work was the elevator ride all the way up to the sixty-sixth floor. The elevator was a little slow, and the choice of music was horrible, so I was nearly driven insane with every trip up and down the elevator. I once thought about going up the stairs instead, but then I asked myself if I really wanted to climb up sixty-six flights of stairs. Plus, it would've taken longer, so in the end I was stuck taking the long and boring elevator to the sixty-sixth floor.

When I got there, everyone was already seated and ready to start the meeting except for Professor Hojo, who had arrived at almost the same time as I had. He was a thin man in who would've looked like he was in his fifties if not for his jet-black hair and moustache. He wore a white lab coat over a black suit shirt and a pair of brown slacks. His brow protrudes over his eyes, creating a shadowed effect on his face. This only added to the Professor's spooky look.

He stopped and looked at me just before reaching the meeting room door. He gave me a crooked smile that sent chills running down my spine. I felt that something about him wasn't quite right, but other than his spooky look, I had no idea what it could've been. After a disturbing five seconds of us staring at each other, his smile grew wider as he turned and continued through the door. He walked into the room and took his seat while I shut the door and took my place in front of the door. After that I breathed a sigh of relief and started my long and boring work.

After about an hour standing there in front of the meeting room door, I realized that I couldn't get my mind off of Raven. I couldn't even explain why either. Maybe it was because I was just that bored. Whatever the reason, it was becoming more annoying than the boredom of guarding the door that nobody cared about.

"This is driving me crazy," I thought to myself.

"Hi, Miss Moira!!!" A familiar little moogle popped up in front of my face.

"Speaking of things that drive me crazy," I thought.

"Hello, Bibble," I responded, annoyed. I especially wasn't in the mood for Holly Bibble's telepathy that day.

"Kupo! Must be exciting!"

"What?"

"That you're dating Mr. Raven!"

"And? Get to the interesting part."

"You're not excited, kupo? You finally found yourself a boyfriend!"

"...I don't think it's that exciting, and he's not all that great."

"Liar! If you don't like him, then how come he's all you can think about today? Hmmm?"

"You really ought to stop picking my brain when you're least welcome."

"Kupo? But I'm _always_ least welcome."

"Exactly."

There was a long period of silence after that. I stared at the far wall as Bibble kept her wide-eyed gaze at me.

"...You like him."

"You're an idiot."

"The least you can do is to admit he's a nice guy, kupo! His nicey-ness counters your meany-ness."

"He's just another guy to me."

"You're in denial, kupo."

"Why don't you just 'kupo' your way out of my sight and leave me to my work?"

"But you'll be bored, kupo!"

That made me angry because I knew she was right.

"Fine."

"You're meaner than usual, kupo, which means that you know that what I'm saying is truth, therefore bringing me to assume that you are in denial, kupo!"

"Ok! Ok! So I guess I like him!"

"Kupo!" Bibble squealed out happily.

"But not a word of this to anyone!"

"Nobody thinks I exist, kupo, so it doesn't matter what I say or do."

"I'm just telling you not to say this to anyone."

"What'll you do if I do, kupo? You can't kill me, 'member? Last time you tried, kupo, you fell on your butt."

"Hmph!"

"I think it's funny that I figured it out before you did, kupo!"

"You know what? Shut up, ok?"

"And do _you_ know what, kupo? You should go find a different line of work or move out of Midgar or something, kupo, because after living here, you've hated your life and went sour."

"Stop reading my mind!" I burst out, realizing that I didn't even have to be thinking it for her to be able to read it. "It's none of your business whether or not I'm happy with my life!"

"I know, but kupo..." She whined looking at the ground, "It bothers me how you're always so miserable. Maybe Mr. Raven can help fix that."

"I wouldn't count on it."

"We'll see. I gotta go now, kupo. I hope Mr. Raven makes you happy."

"Heh."

"Bye-Bye, Miss Moira! Kupo!" She sang as she disappeared as quickly as she appeared.

"Good-bye," I growled, "And good riddance."

I continued my work, which was to stand there in front of the door. I sometimes tried to eavesdrop on the conversation in the meeting room just so I can keep myself busy. Only a small handful of people ever attended these meetings. They were usually Professor Hojo (who always seemed to be on an agenda of his own), a man named Reeve (who was a member of the Shinra secret service called the Turks), President Shinra and his assistants, of course, and his bodyguard, Wyndom Arsenault.

Wyndom was so quiet and seemed to always try so hard to blend into the wall that he was barely noticeable, even to a security guard like me who gets paid to pay attention to detail. He never talked during the meetings, or any other time for that matter. His weapon was a bo-staff. I never bothered trying to make contact with him because he was too quiet and brooding for my taste.

The president addressed the disaster at the Sector One reactor and how the Sector One plate was left with no power until they were able to find an alternate power source to use while they have a new one built. They also mentioned an attempted attack on the Sector Five reactor. Fortunately, the President intercepted AVALANCHE during a visit and sent a giant robot to take care of them. Unfortunately, they managed to escape. The President's investigators had pinpointed AVALANCHE's hideout to be somewhere in the Sector Seven slums, so I was guessing that they were whispering up a plan to track them down and make sure they didn't blow up any more reactors.

There was also mentioning about things called "Ancients" and their role in the future of our world, but by that time I was wondering when the meeting would finish so I could get my hefty paycheck and go home. I stopped eavesdropping and looked up to see if I could find anything different or suspicious, and I found a familiar-looking guy on the far left end of the hall, walking in my general direction. I felt a split-second adrenaline rush come out of nowhere as I recognized the guy to be Raven. He was dressed semi-casually, in dark gray suit pants and a white suit shirt. He was really shuffling through the hall with his head sort of slanted downward, as if disappointed about something. He almost didn't notice me as he was passing me. He would have passed me altogether had I not stuck my scythe out in front of him as he walked.

"Excuse me, SOLDIER," I said in a professional tone, "Were you planning on passing through this hallway without saying 'hello' to me?"

"Moira!" He seemed surprised. "I didn't notice you. Are you on duty?"

"No, I enjoy standing in front of the door to a meeting the President arranged all by himself."

"Uh sorry, stupid question." He crossed his arms and looked down at his boot as he rolled it on the edge of the heal. After short moment he looked back up at me. "You got the 'emergency meeting' shift, eh?"

"Yes, unfortunately. These meetings are of no interest to anyone but the ones inside the room, and even then I think there's a couple of guys in there who would rather be somewhere else. I really don't see why this door needs guarding."

He walked over and leaned on the wall across of me.

"Well, you know, the President has been known to be a bit of an idiot at times."

"Yea, well, he could've just locked the door and that would be all the guarding they'll ever need."

"You're probably right."

"When I spotted you walking, you looked a little down. Did something happen?"

"Well, all the members of SOLDIER were called up early this morning for a special meeting. A few of them didn't show up."

"Is that it?"

"Well, no. I figured since it was so early in the morning, they decided to get more sleep or something, which could get them kicked off of SOLDIER. A couple of the guys who didn't show up were friends of mine. When I tried to call them later on to see what happened, they weren't there. I tried more than a dozen times after that and got nothing. I even tried going to visit each of them, but nobody was there. I'm starting to wonder if there isn't something more to this."

"It hasn't been that long," I tried to comfort him, "It's only late morning. They might turn up later."

"I hope so," he replied and then looked up at me, "Thanks for hearing me out."

"Hey, what else could I do?" I smiled at him and shrugged my shoulders. "My only job is to stand in front of this door pretending it's actually important. Nobody said I couldn't talk to anybody."

"No, I guess not." He smiled and seemed to feel a little better. "Do you have anything planned after this?"

"No, I don't. Why?"

"Well, I was thinking I could get you some coffee or something on the sixty-first floor."

"Sure, why not?"

"Alright then." He clapped his hands and rubbed them together as he started stepping in the direction of the elevator. "I'll meet you there after your shift ok?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Ok." He turned around and started walking away, keeping his eyes on me. "See you later."

"Bye, Raven." I watched him walk into the elevator twelve feet in front of me. He winked and gave me a thumbs-up with a huge dopey grin on his face as the elevator suddenly swooshed downward and disappeared.

********        ********        ********

The meeting didn't end until mid afternoon. When I was finally released from my shift, I sprinted across the hall and into the elevator. I almost cracked the button for the sixty-first floor trying to make the elevator move faster. When I finally got there, I was relieved to see Raven still waiting for me at a table on the far end of the room. When I walked over there, I got a good look at how he was sitting at the table.

He sat on the stool with his head laying on the tabletop facing to his right, eyes shut and mouth wide open. A small puddle of liquid was on the table around the area of his mouth. He had his legs apart with an arm on each leg, and his hands were just dangling in the middle. His rope of a braid hung down behind him.

I sat on the stool to his right and tapped him on the shoulder. When I got no response, I poked him in his side. When that didn't work, I grabbed his braid and tugged it like an old-fashioned doorbell. When I saw that he still wasn't moving, I got frustrated and kicked him in the leg.

"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow!" He yelped out as grabbed his leg and started bobbing back and forth. Apparently, I'd kicked him harder than intended. "As if yanking my hair wasn't enough."

"You mean to tell me you were awake the whole time?"

"Well, no," He answered keeping the pained look on his face and holding his leg but he stopped moving. "Just after the part where you yanked my hair."

"Then why didn't you react?"

"Part of training at SOLDIER is learning how to wake up without making a move or sound."

"It sounds pointless."

"It's only useful when someone is breaking into your sleeping quarters."

"Oh…"

There was a long period of silence after that. I just stared at him while he rubbed his leg for a few seconds and then sat up straight.

"So," He started, "How about that coffee I promised you?"

"Sure."

"Wait right here."

He got up and walked toward the coffee bar. Shin-Ra Coffee it was called. I was beginning to wonder if there was any business in Midgar that didn't have Shin-Ra as part of its name. I looked up to see a familiar figure in a white lab coat walking across the room. I wondered where he was going, but didn't want to know what he was up to.

After a few seconds of walking, he suddenly stopped and turned his gaze in my general direction. Then he started walking towards the table I was sitting at. Then he stopped just a few feet in front of me, not far from the edge of the table. He looked down at me with the same crooked grin he walked into the meeting room with.

"Good afternoon," Professor Hojo greeted, "Are you the young lady who guards the meeting room door?"

This question seemed ridiculous because we'd already met this morning before the meeting. "Yes Sir, I am," I answered respectfully nonetheless.

"A rather pointless position in my opinion since the door does indeed have a functional lock." He sat down across the table from me, looking at me over his glasses. "How would you like to guard something more worthy of your skill?"

"And how would someone like you know what my skills are?" I asked in suspicion.

"My sources tell me that you are a skilled scythe-wielder," he answered, "And the look on your face as you arrived this morning seemed rather dulled. As if you'd much rather be someplace else, where there is more 'action'."

"I guess I make it all too obvious how I hate my job."

"Well, I might have a job to offer you that is actually worth guarding."

"Well?" I was getting impatient, "What is it?"

"My laboratory," he answered calmly, "I think it is much more likely that someone would break into my laboratory to try to steal my research than it is for someone to break into a meeting."

"Hmm…" I considered this. It sounded logical enough, but I still didn't want to jump into it just yet.

"If you need to think about it, be my guest. You can give me an answer at the next meeting." He got up off the seat, and turned around to leave. "Just remember that if you refuse, you will be stuck guarding a band of pathetic business politicians in a room that should not be guarded."

Then he walked away to the elevator on the far side of the room. Raven arrived just as he left, holding two cups of coffee.

"Was that Professor Hojo that just walked off?" Raven asked wish a puzzled look on his face as he sat down next to me and handed me my coffee.

"Yea," I answered, "He was offering me a job." I sipped my coffee.

"A job? Doing what?"

"Something about guarding his lab."

"What did you say?"

"I didn't give him an answer. He gave me until the next meeting to think about it, though."

"Are you going to accept it?"

"I'm not sure."

"I wouldn't," said a deep voice from behind us. Raven and I turned around to see a tall man clad in a black suit-shirt, black pants, black gloves, black boots, black sunglasses, and a black cape. He was holding a bo-staff in his right hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Arsenault," I greeted respectfully. "Where did you come from?"

"The same place _you_ just came from," he replied, "The meeting room."

I looked his outfit up and down. "Got enough black on you? You look like you'd blend right into the wall in a dark alley."

"No, and I'd blend in anywhere."

"…That's true."

"_He's_ Wyndom Arsenault?" Raven smirked with an almost laughing grin on his face, "President Shin-Ra's bodyguard?"

"What of it, SOLDIER boy?" Wyndom shot back looking at Raven. "It's not exactly a position I'm very proud of."

"I'm not exactly happy with guarding the meeting room door myself," I replied.

There was a moment of silence after that.

"Um, how did you manage to get behind us unnoticed?" I asked Wyndom, breaking the silence.

"I can go just about anywhere without being seen," Wyndom answered, "So I'm not surprised a security guard like you didn't sense me coming."

"Are you saying I'm not a good security guard?"

"No, I'm just saying I'm so unnoticeable, I might as well be invisible."

"Oh…" I sat there for a bit, "So what brings you to our table?"

"I overheard your little conversation with Hojo," he answered.

"What about it?" I asked.

"I wouldn't take that job if I were you," he reiterated.

"And why not?"

"Because he's creepy," Raven butted in.

"I don't trust him," Wyndom answered. "He even gives _me _the creeps."

"What is likely to happen if I do take this job?"

"Not sure, but there's rumors that people who work for Hojo end up disappearing."

That didn't sound good, but I knew for a fact that most rumors in Midgar were false, so I wan't really buying it.

Raven added, "Some rumors say the disappearances are because Hojo uses those people for secret experiments."

"All the more reason not to take the job," Wyndom added. "The President's an idiot, but at least I know my job's secure as long as he stays alive."

"And you actually believe these rumors?" I asked while sipping my coffee.

"If you've ever _seen_ his lab, you'd have good reason to believe them." Raven answered.

"Well, rumors or not," I started, "I'm sure it would probably be more exciting than guarding the meeting room door."

"Well, whether you listen to me or not, my advice is to stay away from Hojo," Wyndom said as he turned around to leave. "See you at the next meeting."

"It was nice talking to you," I called as he walked away. He waved his left hand as to say "likewise" as he walked away.

"It must be serious if Wyndom Arsenault went out of his way to give you a word of warning," Raven said as we turned back around in our seats, sipping our last bit of coffee. "Because I hear he's certainly _not_ the most sociable guy in Midgar."

"I think he's worrying too much," I replied. "I mean what's the harm in guarding the door? It's not like I'm ever going to actually be in his lab."

"I think he's right, though. I don't think taking this job is a very smart idea."

"If it gets me away from guarding the Meeting Room door, I'll take anything."

"You mean you're actually considering it?"

"Of course I am. And so what if Hojo tries to pull something? I can take care of myself."

"I'm pretty sure you can, but you can't be sure with someone like Hojo."

"So you don't think I can take care of myself?"

"I'm not saying that. I just don't trust Hojo."

"You trusted Hojo with that mako treatment, didn't you?"

"The mako treatment is required to enter SOLDIER. And it's completely different from what we're talking about here."

"How is it different? If anything, what I have is a whole lot safer than what you did. You actually had Hojo do something to you. I'm only going to guard the door."

"There's just no convincing you, is there?"

"I get my stubbornness from my mom."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt."

"I'll be fine. So don't worry about it."

There was a moment of silence after that. I looked at Raven, who was staring at his empty cup of coffee. He had a worried look in his face. Actually, he it seemed like a mix of worry and depression. The thought that I might've hurt his feelings made me feel a huge pang of guilt, like my heart suddenly became heavy. I leaned over and wrapped my arms around him, trying to help him feel better.

"I'll be ok," I assured him.

He let go of his cup and hugged me back, leaning his head against mine.

"Promise me you won't disappear," he whispered.

It took me a while to process his request, but remembering the rumor, I replied.

"I promise."

"I don't want to lose you. Not now that I have you."

"Don't you worry about that."

We let go of each other and looked in each other's eyes. He still looked worried, but it wasn't as bad.

"Does it worry you that much?" I asked him finally.

"Uh, hehe," he chuckled nervously and looked away, as if ashamed by his worry. "I guess I make it obvious, don't I?"

"Yes, you do."

"Professor Hojo is just not a very trustworthy guy."

"I noticed."

We sat there for a long moment. Then he sat up and started looking through his pockets.

"Well, just to get our minds off of this topic…" he started as he kept digging through his pockets.

"Where are they?" He wondered out loud.

"Where are what?" I asked curiously.

"Are you doing anything tomorrow night?" he looked up at me for a split second before looking back down and found what he was looking for.

"Not really," I answered, "Why?"

"Because," he replied while pulling two tickets out of his shirt pocket, "I have two tickets to the play 'Loveless' tomorrow night."

I'd always wanted to go see "Loveless" simply because everyone said it was great, although I never actually took the time to go see it. I didn't really know much about it, but I wanted to watch it anyway. So seeing those tickets in his hand was simply awesome. "Loveless" tickets were also pretty hard to get unless you knew exactly where to get them.

"How did you get those?" I wondered out loud.

"Joe knows a ticket dealer just on the border of Sectors Three and Four. I asked him the favor, and he got the tickets for me. The play is currently being shown in the theater on the Sector Two plate. So it isn't as far away as the park," He stuffed the tickets back in his shirt pocket. "So, are you interested?"

"Of course!" I accepted.

"Well, then it's a date," he said as he got up off the seat. "I'll pick you up tomorrow night then."

"All right." I watched him walk away as I got up to leave myself. Then I walked over to the elevator and took it all the way down so I could make my way home.

As I left the building, Bibble decided to appear in front of me.

"Hi, Miss Moira!"

"Hi Bibble," I answered back and kept walking. After a moment, she let out a gasp, which actually sounded like she was inhaling the word "kupo".

"What is it?" I asked.

"Hojo offered you a job?!"

"Yes, what of it? This is the first time I've heard you address to someone without adding a 'Miss' or 'Mister' in front of the name."

"Hojo doesn't exactly deserve that much respect, kupo."

"No, I guess not, that's why he's got enough respect to be in charge of the science division of Shinra Inc."

"Forget about his title, kupo. He's bad news."

"So I heard."

"You shouldn't take the job, kupo."

"Says who?"

"Says the fact that he's an evil mad scientist."

"Why don't you just mind your own business and let me do my own thinking?"

"But you _are_ doing your own thinking, kupo, and it's not exactly going in the right direction."

"It's not your place to tell me what the right direction is."

"Ok, have it your way, kupo, but remember all the warnings you've been given."

"I can take care of myself."

"If you say so. Hmm, you're almost home, kupo. So I guess I'll just leave you to your thinking now. Bye, Miss Moira!" Then she disappeared just as I arrived at my front door.

I sat down on my couch and turned on the TV. The news was on, and they were talking more about AVALANCHE. It was about how they attempted to blow up the mako reactor in Sector Five, but President Shin-Ra intercepted them and sent a big robot to take care of them. Obviously, the robot was defective, because they got away.

Though one of them fell off the platform of the reactor and into the Sector Five slums below. Whether or not he survived was a mystery. The report said he looked like he was dressed in a SOLDIER outfit, but nobody could identify who he was. He had blonde, spiky hair and wielded a buster sword, which had an extremely wide blade that was more than five times the width of a regular sword's blade.

I was about to turn the TV off when the next story came on.

"…On a stranger note, some members of the military division called SOLDIER have mysteriously disappeared."

"What?!" I exclaimed to nobody in particular.

"Thus far, the only two notable connections are that they were obviously all from SOLDIER, and that all of the missing SOLDIERs were stationed in the town of Nibelheim at some point in their careers. Further details at eleven."

 I couldn't think of what frustrated me more, the fact that I had to wait until eleven o'clock to hear more about the story or the fact that some of those missing SOLDIERs were Raven's missing friends. It also bothered me to think that Raven might also turn up missing some time in all of this. Though I didn't worry about it too much since Raven has never mentioned ever being stationed in Nibelheim while he was telling his life story. Although I didn't throw out the chance that he might've been but never told me about it.

I didn't want to think about it though, so I turned the TV off and got up off the couch to go look in the kitchen for something to eat. The coffee was good, but it wasn't very filling. I was too hungry to go through the effort of cooking a meal, so I made a ham and cheese sandwich and went with it.

As I was making the sandwich, I couldn't help but wonder whether or not I should accept Hojo's job offer. It was certainly tempting, seeing as though it would get me away from guarding the door to the meeting room.

"…but what about Raven?" I thought to myself, "He seemed really worried for my safety. I don't really see the harm in guarding the door. It's not like I'd actually be in his lab. But what if those rumors are true?"

I finished making my sandwich and went into my room so I could take a nap after I finished eating. I needed to sleep the boredom of work out of my system.

"If I take the job with Hojo," I thought, "maybe I won't need these after-work naps to cure the tiring boredom."

I then finished my sandwich and slipped into my comfy queen-size bed. As I waited for sleep, I looked around the room at all the things that decorated it. There were mostly pictures from Kalm that I had hung around my bo-staff that hung on the wall to the left of my bed. The door was in front of my bed; so decorating that wall didn't seem to have much point to me. The only thing on that wall was my scythe. I'd hang it there when I wasn't using it.

I looked to my left at all the pictures on the wall. I wanted to look back at my life in Kalm and all the things that have happened there. A few of them were pictures I had while I was in Kalm. There was one with me riding Jamie, one with me and Will standing in front of Jamie, and one with Will in front of Jamie's stable and pointing at Jamie's nameplate with a huge, goofy grin on his face.

There were also other not-so-happy pictures of me that my parents took. I particularly liked this one with me lying on my bed in my bedroom in Kalm, with a bored look on my face while reading a magazine called The Shin-Ra Arsenal. It reminded me of how much I wanted a scythe and how much my parents were against it.

The majority of the pictures on the wall were actually of things that happened after I moved away from Kalm. My parents and Will would sometimes send me pictures with their letters as a visual aid. One of my parents' letters, for instance, mentioned how my dad was promoted to manager of the Kalm Inn. With the letter was a picture of my dad proudly holding a plaque with his name on it and the title of "Manager" underneath his name. Of course when I got that letter, I wrote back in congratulations.

Some of my favorite letters though were the ones that Will sent me with pictures of his progress with the other chocobos. There was one picture with Will sitting cross-legged in one of the chocobo stables holding in his lap a very large chocobo egg that one of his chocobos had just laid. This was the first egg to be laid in the Kalm stables, so it was an important event for Will.

The picture next to it was of Will holding half of an eggshell with a fuzzy, yellow, newly-hatched chicobo sitting inside of it. Of course, this was the same chocobo egg Will was holding in the other picture, and it had just hatched. It was the most adorable little thing I'd seen in any picture, so that picture was placed almost at the very front, being behind the pictures of Will, Jamie, and me.

All of the pictures were hung in a sort of wreath pattern around the bo-staff, which hung directly in the middle of the wall. There were at least three-dozen pictures hanging on that wall, and I was looking at all of them. I spent so much time looking at them that I didn't notice when I finally dozed off to sleep.


	6. Ch 5: Love, Lovely, Loveless

Chapter V 

**Love, Lovely, Loveless**

(The Following Afternoon)

I rushed back and forth and left and right for hours, searching frantically in every corner of my closet. It was the afternoon before the night of the date, and it had just occurred to me that this date required something I was missing, and I was determined to find it somewhere in my tiny apartment. I knew the search would be fruitless, but I searched anyway, hoping to find _something _I could put together. After a couple of hours, my bedroom looked like I hadn't cleaned it in weeks.

I was just about to give up the search when I heard a knock at my door. I answered the door, and there was Raven. He was wearing a navy blue suit with a gray shirt under the coat.

"Uh, hi!" I greeted nervously.

"Good afternoon, Milady," He greeted with a bow.

"You're… a little early," I pointed out, "I thought the play wasn't until tonight."

"Yes, it's tonight," he answered, "But I wanted to make sure we'd make it on time, since I hear women take forever to get ready for anything."

"That's a myth. I always make it on time to my job," then I noticed we were still at my front door, "Why don't you come in?"

"Sure, why not?" He walked in and sat down on the couch. I shut the door and ran across the living room and shut my bedroom door. I didn't want him to catch even a glimpse of the mess in my room.

"You look messy," he pointed out, noticing the condition I was in after all the searching. My hair wasn't exactly the neatest it could've been, and I was still in my pajamas.

"Oh ya," I chuckled nervously, "I can't seem to find anything to wear."

"You went out of your way to try to find something to wear?" He asked with an eyebrow raised, "In mid-afternoon?"

"I wanted to find the closest thing to fancy in my wardrobe," I said as I sat down in the couch next to him, "Unfortunately, I don't own anything that comes close to fancy."

"You know, I figured you'd have this dilemma," he said smoothly as he placed his arm on the back of the couch behind me. "That's why I arranged for you to meet with a friend of mine who owns a shop not too far from the edge of Sector Two, just after leaving Sector Three."

"You mean you're taking me to a place to shop for clothes…."

"You'll have help. She's a fashion expert and said she'd be more than happy to walk you through it and help you pick something."

I sat there and stared at him blankly. I didn't know what to say about it. The question of how he knew I'd have trouble finding something to wear kept repeating itself in my mind.

"Of course if you don't _want _to," Raven broke the silence, "I could always cancel the arrangement and you could go in whatever you can find."

"Oh no, I'll go," I answered, "I just didn't think you'd actually go through all this trouble for me."

"No trouble at all," He looked at me with a smile on his face, "Don't think anything of it. All you need to do is pick the outfit you like and I'll take care of the rest."

He looked at me with a soft smile on his face. His eyes seemed to glow brighter than usual, but only because of the emotion he was holding back. I could tell he wanted so badly to hold me. I couldn't help but smile.

"I am not forbidden, you know," I said to him, which broke his staring trance.

"What?"

"You don't have to refrain from touching me."

"Oh." With that, he let his hand off the back of the couch and around my shoulders. It felt odd, but only because I'd never had any guy put his arm around my shoulders before. It was also because he was tense about it.

"You don't have to be so tense, either. Relax. I'm not violent when I'm sober, so I won't bite you. Not without good reason, anyway."

He chuckled nervously.

"Well, such beauty makes me nervous," he chuckled nervously while scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

I couldn't help but laugh at this.

"What?" He asked wide-eyed as he let his free hand down on his lap. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing," When I finished laughing I asked, "So, when is this little appointment I have with your fashion expert friend?"

"We can go in anytime."

"Well, then I'll go get dressed so we could be on our way."

I got up and went into my bedroom and scrounged around the mess for something simple-yet-decent to wear. I put on a white shirt and some overalls. I scrambled to gather all my clothes together and piled them all on my bed so I could fold them later.

I went into the bathroom and brushed my hair to make it more presentable. I tied it back with a small hair-tie and walked out of the bathroom and through the bedroom and walked out the door.

Raven was still sitting on the couch when I got out of my room. He looked back at me from his seat on the couch.

"Are you ready?" He asked.

"Yea. I'm ready."

"Ok, then." He got up off the couch. "Shall we be off then?"

"We shall." We walked out of my front door and left for Sector Two.

We didn't travel in a chocobo carriage this time. Since the edge Sector Two was just next-door to Sector Three, we only had to walk.

"Gee," I started as we walked down the street near my apartment, "I wonder why there isn't anything truly interesting here in Sector Three?"

"What do you mean?" He gave me an odd look. "Joe's bar seems to be a pretty interesting one."

"No, I mean like a tourist attraction. The Sector One plate has Shinra Park, and the Sector Six slums has that marketplace with all the weird adult places."

"You mean Wall Market?"

"You've been there?"

"Yes, actually," he said with a disturbed tone in his voice, "I went to a place there called the Honey Bee Inn. And I never wanted to go there since."

"Why? What's it like?"

"They have girls there dressed like bees, and there's a room where all these huge muscles guys take baths together…" He looked at me, and noticed I wasn't getting the weirdness in it, "…about twenty huge guys all naked in the same tiny tub."

"…Eww!" I grimaced at the thought. "Ok… What else was at Wall Market?"

"Well, there was the mansion at the very back of the place. It belongs to a guy named Don Corneo."

"I've heard that name before. I think he works for Shinra."

"I wouldn't doubt it. He has strict security on his mansion, and he only allows good-looking girls to enter it. I don't even want to _know _what he does with them in there."

"Very strange."

"Rich people usually are…" He replied, "…of course they're usually not _that _strange."

"Well, I never really like the slums anyway."

"Who does?"

"The only part of the slums I liked at all was this abandoned run-down church in the Sector Five slums. And it was only interesting because there was a nice little flowerbed growing in a huge hole in the floor in the middle of the altar. There were dozens of yellow flowers growing there."

"That's really weird, considering plants don't grow in the slums."

"There was definitely something strange about it. But seeing as it was the only plant-life in the slums, I enjoyed it for the moment I was there."

"The slums aren't very pleasant," he added and decided to change the subject, "and thinking about them isn't going to help us feel any better about them."

"You're right." Then we got to Sector Two.

"We're almost there," Raven announced, looking ahead. He started looking for the building as we walked.

"Ah, there it is," he said as he found it and quickened our pace.

We walked for a couple of more minutes before stopping in front of a large building with a huge neon sign next to it that said "Kate Simfamy and Co.: Fine Designs and Fabulous Fashions".

"This is it." He announced.

"Wow, a company name that doesn't have the name Shin-Ra in it!" I said in amazement.

"Yea," Raven replied, "This is one of the very few places in Midgar that isn't owned by Shin-Ra."

We walked through the door into the largest clothes store I'd ever seen. We walked on to the back of the store, where the elevator was. We walked in, and Raven pushed the button for the top floor. The walls and doors of the elevator were see-through, so you could see the merchandise of each floor as you went up.

The store looked much larger on the inside than it did on the outside. There were five or six floors to this building. Each floor was sectioned in half, one side for women's outfits and the other side for men's outfits, and each floor had a different category. I remember the first floor having swimwear, sandals, and other things people would go swimming with. The second floor had mostly fancy undergarments and sleepwear. After that I stopped paying attention to what was in each floor and looked at Raven.

He seemed to be staring off into space, not really focused on anything in particular. He looked like he was deep in thought.

"What are you thinking about?" I asked him. Then his eyes were more focused on what was in front of him.

"Nothing much. Just trying to imagine what you'll come out wearing when you're done."

"Well, it'll certainly be something fancy."

"Ya," he sighed. Then he looked back at me, "And I'll bet you'll look beautiful in whatever you choose."

Before I could react, the elevator had come to a sudden halt. The doors opened and we walked out to what looked like the reception to some really important office. To the left, there was the reception desk with two young girls behind the desk. On the right side was a set of chairs meant for people waiting to see the person in the office, which I assumed was Raven's store-owner friend. There were five seats and all of them were occupied. There were also people standing or sitting on the floor waiting for their appointment. I hated to think how long I would have to wait.

We walked up to the desk, and Raven rang the little bell to catch the girls' attention. They didn't looked up at us, but that was when I got a good look at them. They were both wearing identical work suits that were a dull gray color.

"Good afternoon," greeted the blonde on the left with bright red lipstick and light blue eye shadow.

"May we be of assistance to you?" Asked the girl with the dull voice, brown hair, and far too much make-up.

"Yea, we have an important appointment with Kate," Raven said to the girls.

"Look, Mister, you'll have to--" the dull one stopped speaking as she looked up and recognized Raven. Excited, she poked the blonde in the side.

"Ow! What?" She looked up and also saw Raven. She stood up from her seat, "Oh my God! It's Raven!"

"Good afternoon, ladies," then he greeted each of them, "Mina," to the blonde, "Janice," to the dull one.

"Raven, you never come around here anymore," Mina whined, "What happened?"

"I've been distracted."

"Who's your friend, Raven?" Janice asked, "Is she the lucky security guard you told us about?"

"Yes," Raven chuckled, "This is Moira. And she needs Kate's help with something. Will you tell her I'm here?"

"Of course, Raven." Mina sat back down on her chair.

"Don't worry about a thing, honey," Janice said to me, "Katy's a genius. She can make the most horrible-looking people look absolutely fabulous, and that's just with the clothes. Why, I'll bet she could even make President Shin-Ra look good if she had the chance."

"Ya, now if only she'd use those skills on herself," Mina cracked.

I didn't want to know what that meant, so I didn't ask. Mina picked up the intercom phone and pushed a red button.

"Miss Simfamy?" she called and let go of the button. Then a click came up on the intercom.

"[click] What is it, Mina?" An upset woman answered, "I'm in the middle of a meeting with someone very important. [click]"

"I know, Ma'am," Mina answered, "But Raven's here to see you."

"[click] Allen?!" She replied in pleasant surprised. "Well, why didn't you _say _so?! Just a moment. [click]"

She clicked off, and all of a sudden there was a lot of noise coming from behind the doors. It was apparent that Kate's guest didn't want to leave.

"You heard me! I said get out! Now!" She yelled as the door flew opened and she shoved her guest out of the door. He almost fell over, but he quickly got his footing and stood up straight again. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He had deep blue eyes and blonde hair that was gelled back. He wore white suit pants, a black shirt, and a white trenchcoat.

"Ok! Ok! I'm out!" He brushed himself off and looked back at Kate. "I have more pressing business to attend to anyway. Until next time."

He walked to the elevator. I couldn't believe who I was seeing. Raven shook his head and sighed. Everyone waiting on the seats watched bewildered as he went into the elevator and left. The reception girls didn't seem fazed by it at all. Kate disappeared into her office before I could see her.

"Was that--?" I started, referring to the man who'd just left.

"I hope not." Raven answered before I could finish the question.

We walked into the office door, and it automatically shut behind us. We kept going to the desk. This office was huge. It wasn't nearly as huge as President Shin-Ra's office, but it was certainly large. The desk was normal office-desk size, and it was messy with fashion portfolios with drawings and photos of assorted outfits. Behind the desk sat Kate. She was laid back on her rotating desk chair, swaying it left and right. 

She was dressed in all sorts of colors. Her outfit looked like something out of a modern art exhibit. The left side of the coat was royal blue, the right side was bright red, the back was chartreuse green, and buttons were all yellow. The poofy scarf she had tucked underneath was bright violet, and her short skirt was pink. Her plaid pantyhose did not fit with her already clashing outfit, and her bright orange high-healed shoes didn't help much either. She had her hair tied back in a spiky bun with a large black bow. As soon as we were right in front of her desk, she stood up and spread her arms wide open.

"Allen, Darling!" She walked around the desk and gave Raven a big hug. Raven hugged back.

"Uh, hi Kate," he greeted. After a couple of seconds they let go.

"Oh please, Allen honey! Call me katy!" Then she looked over at me. She grabbed my hand and started shaking it. "And _you _must be the girl Raven's been yappin' so much about."

"Uh, yea. I guess." I answered nervously. I looked over at Raven, and he just shrugged.

"We're gonna get along real great. Um, Miriam is it?"

"Uh, no. Moira."

"Oh ya, Moira. Silly me. I suck at remembering names."

"Well, now that you're acquainted, I have something I want to say," Raven said.

"Why sure, hon. Go right ahead," Kate replied.

"Please say that wasn't Vice President Rufus Shin-Ra you just kicked out the door!" Raven exclaimed pointing out the door.

"Well if I told you that, my dear Allen, then it would've been a lie," She replied. "Of _course_ that was Rufus. He was discussin' business."

"What did he want?" Raven asked.

"He wanted to buy my store and my company and put the name Shin-Ra on it. But I made it clear to him that I wanted nothin' to do with Shin-Ra other than the electric mako power I pay them for. I was about to ask him to leave anyway when you came in."

"Why would he want a fashion company?" I asked curiously.

"Beats the heck outta me," Kate answered, "I ain't no politician. I guess he just wanted another company with his name on it."

"And it doesn't bother you that you booted one of the most important people in Midgar out the door?" Raven added.

"What's he gonna do? Tell his daddy on me?" She answered with snooty smirk on her face. "Don't worry about it. I do this sort of thing all the time."

"Oh well," Raven gave up on trying to reason with her, "I guess I'll just leave you ladies alone to do your thing, and if you need me, I'll be in the lobby." He started walking toward the door.

"What? Raven, wait!" By the time I finished he was opening the door.

"Call me when you're ready, Moira!" He called back with a wide smile on his face as he walked out the door and left me alone with the crazy fashion expert.

I looked up at Kate, who stood there, arms crossed, looking me up and down.

"Uh-huh," she muttered.

"What are you looking at?" I asked.

"I'm getting acquainted with your physique," she said as she went over to her desk, "This makes it easier for me to fit you into something that looks good."

"Why don't we get acquainted with each other?"

"That helps too." She pulled out a tape measure and walked back over to me and started measuring me. "Why don't you start? Ask me somethin'."

"I'll start by asking where you're from."

"I was born and raise right here in Midgar, but not always ontop of this jumbo-sized metal pizza. I spent mosta my childhood in the Sector Six slums. Me and my family lived pretty close to Wall Market."

"How close?"

"Close enough for me to go visit the Dress Shop there almost every day I could."

"Hmm."

"I always thought I could do better than that tacky stuff they had, so I got some paper and crayons and started designing dresses when I was six."

"I guess it paid off starting at such an early age."

"I guess you could say that."

"So, how long have you and Raven known each other?"

"I've known him for more years than I can count."

"Hmm…"

"So how'd he do it?"

"Do what?"

"Oh no, wait. Don't tell me. He got his bartender friend to help him ask you out, didn't he?"

"Uh, how did you know that?"

"Because that's the same trick he used on me."

That didn't make me feel comfortable.

"But of course," she added, "He wasn't exactly serious about me. He only thought he liked me and found out how nutty I was. After that we just became really good friends. But you, darling, I can tell he's head over heals over you."

"Really?" I replied, feeling a little better.

"Ya, hon. You got that spark he's been lookin' for."

"Spark?"

"Ya, you know! That magical feelin' ya get when ya just _know _this person's the one for you."

She finished measuring me and wrote the measurements down on a small piece of pad paper that was clipped to a tiny hand-sized clipboard. Then she stuck the pencil in the metal pencil slot of the clipboard.

"Alrighty then," Kate said with a smile on her face, "Let's begin."

She turned around and started walking toward the door, and I followed. We walked out the door into the reception room, where there were people still waiting for a meeting with Kate. Leaning on the reception desk and speaking to the ladies behind it was Raven. He looked back at me and waved. I waved back.

"I'll take good care of her, Allen." Kate called to Raven.

"I know you will, Kate." He answered back as we entered the elevator. Kate pushed the button and we started to decend. There was a few seconds of silence before I decided to speak.

"So, how exactly does this work?" I asked curiously, "I've never shopped for fancy clothes in my life. Especially things like dresses."

"Don't worry about a thing, darling," she replied, "There's nothin' to it. Just pick somethin' that looks good, try it on, keep it if it still looks good, and toss it aside if it doesn't."

"But how will I--"

"Know what looks good?" Kate finished my question for me. "That's why I'm here, hon. To help you find what looks good on you."

The elevator came to a sudden halt and the door opened to reveal an entire room of fancy outfits. We got out of the elevator, which immediately shut the doors and went upwards. We walked towards the dresses, and the fitting began. 

********            ********            ********

I'd lost count of how many trips to the fitting room we took. Kate would help me pick a dress to try on, I'd go to the fitting room to try it on, I'd stand in front of a set of mirrors that showed what the dress looked like from half a dozen different angles, and then we'd go find another dress for me to try on. There were at least a dozen dresses that I'd tried on and looked at in the mirrors.

We tried several times for several hours. I never knew shopping could be so complicated. There were dresses that looked great on the hanger, but then when I'd go to try them on, it just didn't look right.

One of them was a forest green dress with a large poofy boa made from the feathers of a green mountain chocobo. It was common knowledge that chocobos of any color other than yellow were extinct, so I assumed the feathers on the boa were very old. There were also matching dark green high-heeled shoes with small tufts of green chocobo feathers and a large dark green hat with a green tail feather sticking out of it. I thought it was too fluffy, so we picked a different dress and tried again.

It went on like that for what seemed like forever until we finally found the one dress that worked for me. It was a sleeveless, midnight blue, flowing dress that went down to my ankles with a neckline that went about two inches below my collarbone. There was also a small matching purse also made of the same material. It seemed like an unnecessary accessory to me, but it looked nice. The matching inch-high high-heeled shoes were the same midnight blue as the dress. They were simple high-heeled shoes, but they matched better than many of the other shoes I'd tried on that day.

"Wow! It's perfect!" Kate said in awe of her own work, "I must say, hon, of all the dresses we've tried today, this is definitely the one for you, hon!"

I looked around at the several reflections on the six mirrors that almost surrounded me. I admitted that I was definitely satisfied with this particular dress as opposed to the others. I wasn't a fashion expert but I couldn't help agreeing with Kate. I looked back at her away from the mirrors.

"Is the purse really necessary?" I wondered out loud to her.

"Hey! It's part of the package, honey. Ya either take it or leave it."

"Ok…" I looked back at the mirror and twirled the dress a bit.

"What is it made of?" I asked curiously. "It's so soft and confortable."

"That dress is made of a special fabric we make right here in the store. It only exists among dresses in my company. Believe it or not, the material we use for the fabric is mythiril."

"Mythiril?!" I gasped in disbelief, "You mean to tell me this dress is made of metal?"

"Well, ya and no," She answered, "Ya, because we do use the mythiril metal. No, because we fine it down to an extremely fine threat. Usin' this method, the dresses are more durable, more stain-proof, and last much longer than the average dress."

"Wow!" I replied, "That's amazing! How did you figure this method out?"

"It started during the war a few years ago. During that time, my store had a level with just armor. Some of it looked nice, I guess, but armor was never really my thing. I noticed that of all the metals used in the armors, mythiril seemed to be he most popular. One day I asked a customer why he was buyin' it, and he said that it was the most comfortable. So then I figured, 'why not try usin' this stuff in my dresses?' So after that, I started makin' my dresses with mythiril."

"That is awesome."

"Ya, after I found the way to master threading mythiril, it made a really soft comfortable fabric that looks good, hangs fabulously, and doesn't feel like it wants to eat you alive."

"It also feels stretchy."

"That was a really uncanny side-effect from turnin' it into thread. It makes it so the fabric can stretch almost infinitely. I tried to test a piece of fabric a foot long to see just how far it would stretch. I had two of my seamstresses stretch it out on the factory level of the store. When the test was done, they were both on the walls opposite of each other, and the fabric still seemed like it had a lotta stretch to give. And the factory room is over fifty feet wide."

"I've never heard of such a thing," I replied skeptically.

"Ya, well ya never heard of dress fabric made of mythiril either, but that seems to work out alright."

"Well, do you really think I look good in this dress?"

"I think you do," She answered, "But in my opinion, honey, you've got a natural beauty where you'd look good in just about anything. Heck! A frilled out tonberry costume could look great on you. But it doesn't really matter what _I _think, sweety. You're the one who has to ultimately say whether or not it looks good. I'm just the advisor."

I looked the dress up and down again in the mirrors. I was really liking the reflections I was seeing. I had never actually been happy to see my own reflection before, but then again I never found a reason to really look at it. I liked the dress I had on, and it wasn't long before I looked back at Kate again.

"I like this one. I'm keeping it."

"Excellent," She replied and turned toward the elevator. "Now follow me."

I got off the mirror platform and followed her into the elevator.

"What about my normal clothes?" I wondered out loud all of a sudden.

"I'll keep 'em safe until after your date. Then you can come back here to pick 'em up, ok?"

Then she pushed a button in the elevator, and we started going down again.

"Wait, why are we going down again?" I wondered out loud.

"We're goin' down to the Make-Up & Jewelry Level," She answered. "Ya can't go on a really fancy date without at least a little make-up and jewelry."

"But I've never worn make-up or jewelry in my life."

"Ya never shopped for a dress before either, doll, and that didn't stop ya, did it?"

"Well, no…" I couldn't argue, she was right.

"Then trust me on this, hon. It'll be great."

Then the elevator stopped and the door opened to reveal a very glittery room full of jewelry and make-up. We walked toward the center of the room, where people were having make-up done and trying on jewelry. I was then immediately rushed onto a nearby chair with a mirror in front of it as various people who worked at that level brought various pieces of jewelry in front of me, trying to see if they looked good on me. Everything was going too fast for me to see anything properly, so after a while I gave up on trying to keep track of what was going on and waiting for it to be over. I thought I could feel some tugging in my hair, but I didn't ask what it was.

After the jewelry people were done, I was trying to look at what they put on me when the chair was turned away from the mirror and to some strange lady with a huge kit of make-up at her side. I looked to her left side and I could see Kate satisfyingly watching as I sat unaware of what they were doing to me. The make-up lady suddenly started applying various products to my cheeks, my eyelids, my lips, and some parts of my face I didn't know I had.

After she was finally finished, the chair was turned around to the mirror, and all I had a moment to look at my own reflection. I didn't recognize the person in the mirror at all. I didn't think it could possibly be me. The make-up wasn't very heavy, which was a good thing, because I didn't much like having so much "stuff" on my face. My lips were a pinkish-red color, and I had a really light layer of rosy peach blush and soft blue eye shadow.

As far as the jewelry was concerned, all I had was a choker and a pair of earrings, all studded with strange light blue jewels that gleamed in the slightest of light. The choker was very a thin two centimeters in the back and got thicker going forward to about two inches thick making it look like a blanket of light-blue jewels on my collarbone. The earrings were in the shape of feathered wings, spread in a way that the tips of the wings were pointed down.

"Those use-ta be blue support materias," Kate said out loud as if she knew I was looking at the jewels.

"Really?" I answered curiously, "What did they used to do?"

"Oh, they were all sorts of support materias. Some of them were cut from All Materias, some from Elemental Materias. Some of them were even from Quadra Magic Materias."

"Quadra Magic?" I was not really educated in materias, because I mostly just used my scythe and the three green Magic materias I had.

"A fighter like you should KNOW this kinda stuff. Ya know, Quadra Magic, the one that lets ya use the same spell four times in a row before your opponent gets a turn? Honestly, I'm a fashion designer and I know this."

"I don't really pay much attention to materias. I just keep my scythe and that's about it. I have three green Magic materias, but I hardly ever use 'em."

"Well, I've found that materia makes the best jewelry. The young ladies like 'em 'cuz they look beautiful, and the magic in the jewels keeps them energized the whole night. I like 'em for those reasons AND that they're easy to cut and shape any way I need."

"So you use mythiril in your dresses and materia in your jewelry?" I asked, getting the facts straight.

"Yup. That's about all there is to it."

"Interesting." I stared at the mirror some more and suddenly noticed that my neck-length hair was smoothed down and seemed to shine and bounce as I moved my head.

"What happened to my hair?" I asked.

"I had a hired hair-dresser come in while the jewelry was being put on," Kate answered, "What, ya don't like it?"

"Oh no, I like it. I just didn't notice when it happened."

"Well, now that you've got jewelry, make-up, a dress, and a proper hair style, you are now officially presentable for your date. Now let's get back upstairs and show Allen whatcha look like, huh?"

"Sounds good to me," I replied getting up off the chair.

We went up the elevator to the waiting room, where half of the people waiting had already left, while the other half were asleep. When we exited the elevator it immediately shut and went down again. On the other side of the room from the people waiting, Mina and Janice seemed bored looking down at their desks not doing much. Raven was nowhere in sight. I found this odd, and apparently so did Kate.

"Where's Allen?" She asked the two receptionist girls.

"He said he had to go get somethin' real quick," Janice answered.

"He left 'bout five minutes ago and said he'd be right back," Mina continued.

"Well, then all we have to do is wait for 'im," Kate looked back at me and we went into Kate's office again. She sat down on her chair and I sat down in one of the two chairs on the other side of the desk.

Ten minutes passed after that before I heard the intercom on Kate's desk.

"[click] Miss Symphamy! Raven's back! He's coming up the elevator this very moment! [click]"

"'Bout time," Kate answered her intercom, "We'll be right out."

We got up and walked out of the office. Almost immediately the elevator doors slid open, revealing Raven, who seemed a bit exhausted, as if he'd just run down the block a dozen times. Although he wasn't panting and wheezing due to the break in the elevator, I could tell he was tired. He was holding a small box in his hand.

"Where'd ya go, Allen? We were wonderin'," Kate asked.

"I had to go get somethin' I forgot," he answered and then looked at me.

He looked like his tiredness was suddenly lifted away, and was replaced by a much better feeling. His face seemed to glow almost as brightly as his mako-green eyes. I felt myself blush seeing him look at me that way. Kate moved aside as Raven and I moved closer to each other. He looked me up and down, mostly down, and seemed to like what he saw.

"You're gorgeous!" He managed to say as he took my hand with his hand that wasn't holding the small box.

"Thank you," I answered. Then I looked at his other hand, "What's in the box?"

"Oh Ya!" He held the box out in front of me and opened it. It was a mythiril charm bracelet with charms in the shape of small scythes. He took it out of the box and placed it around my right wrist. When he finished putting it on me, I lifted my wrist up to look at it. I liked it mostly because it had scythes on it. But it was cute enough to pass of as normal jewelry. I stared at the tiny scythe charms on the bracelet.

"Do you like it?" He asked me, putting the box in his coat pocket.

I stared at the bracelet for a couple of more seconds before looking up at him again. After a couple of seconds of that I rushed over and hugged him, thanking him for the gift.

"You're welcome," he chuckled. "So, Kate, what do I owe you?" he asked looking back up at Kate.

"Not a thing, Allen honey. It's on me."

"You sure?"

"Sweety, I was never more sure of anything in my life. Now go on your date and have some fun."

Raven then escorted me to the elevator, where we waved back and said good-bye to everyone.

"Bye, Kate!" I said, "Thanks for everything!"

"My pleasure, darling. You just take care of yourself, ok? And don't forget to come back for your normal clothes."

"I won't. Bye." And we went down the elevator and out of the store. We were then on our way to the theater to watch the play. 

********            ********            ********

Loveless was the saddest thing I'd ever watched. I cried for more than half of it. I hardly ever cried over anything in y life, and this play made me gush until my face was sopping wet from my own salty tears. Raven held me the entire time. He offered me a handkerchief when I started crying, but by the end of the play, it was too wet to be of any use.

At the very end, the sister of the main character had to be separated from her lover, and she was expressing how she felt about him.

"I'll come back," she said, "Even if you've moved on, because I know you'll be waiting."

And with that the play ended, and Raven held me as I cried of the last of my tears.

"Are you gonna be alright?" He asked, concerned.

"That was so beautiful!" I answered, as if his question had not existed. He smiled and helped me to my feet. "I'd never watched anything that made me cry before."

"Really?" He asked. "You cried as if you always cried to this sort of thing."

"The funny thing is I was trained not to."

"Ya, well, live entertainment has a way of bringing unknown emotions out of you."

"Ya, I guess so."

We walked out of the theater and were on our way out of Sector Two when the ground started shaking violently, worse than at Sector One. Raven and I both fell on our butts and immediately grabbed each other.

After a long moment of quaking, there was an especially violent quake that boomed up for a split second, and then the ground slowly calmed back down. When the shaking finally stopped, we slowly let go of each other and breathed a sigh.

"I wonder what THAT was all about?" I said finally.

"Not sure," he answered, "That was worse than when the Sector One Reactor exploded."

"It must be AVALANCHE again."

"Could be, but we probably won't know until tomorrow. It's probably not the Reactor in this Sector because the lights are still on. But hey, let's get outta here."

We got up off the ground and started walking towards Sector Three. After a while, I decided to start speaking what was on my mind.

"The President's probably gonna hold another stupid emergency meeting," I said out loud, "One that I'll probably have to guard."

"More than likely," Raven replied.

"The thing is I'm really tired of guarding the President's meetings. Nothing ever happens and everyone knows that the door has a working lock. So why would they need me to guard a door that can easily be locked?"

"You better not be thinking what I hope you're not thinking."

"If it's to accept Hojo's job offer, too late. I thought of it. And the more I think about it, the more it makes sense. Hojo's lab is filled with top secret research that would probably be way more valuable and worth stealing than anything that ever goes on in the meeting room."

"Well, whatever suits you, I guess," He knew he wasn't going to convince me otherwise, "Just be careful, ok?"

"I will," I answered, grabbing his arm as we walked toward Kate's store. We picked up my clothes and thanked Kate again for her help.

When we got to my apartment, it was late and just about everyone was sleeping. I opened my door and entered and turned around to see Raven, who had a big smile on his face.

"So," He started, "Other than the sudden earthquake, how was your night?"

"It was great," I answered, "Just about perfect."

He chuckled and said, "Well, it seems like earthquakes are a running trend with our dates, aren't they?"

"Geez, I hope not. I don't think I can stand falling on my ass again." I said rubbing my butt.

"Well, we can only hope that it doesn't happen again." Then he nervously edged closer to me as I held onto the door. I was going to ask him what he was doing when my lips were suddenly occupied. It was a strange feeling having his lips on mine, but it felt good, and I found myself shutting my eyes and enjoying the moment. It went on for about five seconds when he suddenly jerked back.

"Uh, I'm sorry," he said nervously, "I shouldn't have done that."

"No, I liked it," I replied stepping out of the doorway and into his arms. "Do it again."

And it wasn't long before we were locking lips again. This time it was better because I was expecting it, and it lasted a few seconds longer.

When we finished we could only stare at each other's eyes. His eyes were glowing brighter than usual, and he had that same tender look on his face from when we were at the park. I was suddenly filled with a strange feeling I'd never felt before. It was a strange tingling sensation all through my body, and my heart was pounding at a million miles a second.

Although I didn't recognize this feeling, I liked it. It felt like nothing in the world could take me down, not even the President's meetings. And then suddenly out of nowhere...

"I love you," I blurted out, not realizing what was coming out of my mouth.

"You love me?" He answered in surprise. He obviously wasn't expecting that coming out of me. Then I realized what I'd said, but for some reason I didn't think it was right to argue.

"Yes, I do."

"That's perfect," He answered, "Because I love you too."

I blushed and backed up a few steps.

"What? Is something wrong?" He asked, wondering if he'd done something wrong. "Was it me?"

"No, it wasn't you," I answered, "It just seemed awkward."

"You said it first."

"I know, that why it felt awkward."

"Hmm," he replied, "Maybe you should sleep on it and let it process for a while."

"Maybe."

"Well, in that case, I guess I'd better get going." He started walking away backwards, still looking at me. Then he slowly turned with his eyes still on me.

"Good night, Kind SOLDIER!" I called to him.

"Good night, Sweet Lady!" He called back as he walked away.

When he was out of sight, I slunk back into my apartment, still trying to figure out what had just happened. I just suddenly blurted out that I loved him.

"Do I really love him?" I thought to myself, "Or is it my mind playing tricks on me?"

The more I tried to understand it, the more it confused me, so after an hour or so I simply gave up and went to sleep.

"Maybe I'll have it figured out tomorrow," I thought as I made myself comfortable in my bed. I looked at the pictures on my wall again and slowly drifted to sleep.


	7. Ch 6: Lab Rat

Chapter VI 

**Lab Rat**

(The Next Morning)

I found myself once again on my couch, watching the news whilst eating my breakfast. A reporter was reporting live from a playground in the Sector Six Slums, right on the border of the Sector Seven Slums, which was now just a massive mess of metal and fire.

"…So it was made official today that the terrorist group AVALANCHE has been annihilated. The President sent the order last night to drop the Sector Seven Plate, the slums of which were the confirmed location of AVALANCHE's hideout. Thousands were killed, and several more were injured, but now Midgar is safe from the likes of AVALANCHE. This is John Crowbarr reporting from the Sector Six Slums, Midgar News Forty-Nine. Back to the newsroom." Then the news people went on to talk about the weather and other unimportant things.

It seemed odd to me that the President would just drop the plate just to squash a small terrorist group in the Sector Seven Slums. Why kill so many just to kill so few? Then I couldn't help but wonder about the innocent people that just happened to live in the wrong Sector at the wrong time.

"What if it was Sector Three?" I wondered in my thoughts.

I laid back on my couch and thought about my current job and the job Hojo was willing to give me. I really didn't want to guard the boring meeting room door anymore, so it seemed like Hojo's lab was my only shot at getting away from there.

Just when I was enjoying the comfort of my couch, a familiar little moogle popped up in front of my face.

"YOU CAN'T TAKE THE JOB, KUPO!!! YOU JUST CAN'T!!!"

Holly Bibble's high-pitched voice was annoying enough without making it incredibly loud as well. I had to rub my ears for a moment before I could reply.

"Why can't you just mind your own business, you stupid, nosy moogle? And what are you doing appearing in my apartment?!" She'd never appeared in my apartment before, so it seemed even more like an invasion of my privacy.

"I only came here because I know what you're thinking, kupo, so I had to warn you that Hojo's a bad man! You really shouldn't take this job, kupo! And I _know_ you didn't mean that not-nice name you called me!"

"Oh, and just how bad is he?"

"I've read his mind, kupo, and it's REALLY messed up!"

"So what crazy scientist _isn't_ messed up in the head?"

"No, kupo! You don't understand! He's evil, kupo! He's done experiments on himself and on his fellow scientists as well as his other, usually human, test subjects!"

"What does it matter to you?"

"KUPO!!! I'm worried about you!!! And you're actually still considering accepting this job and not listening to what Mr. Wyndom and Mr. Raven said, kupo!!!"

"Look, I don't know Mr. Wyndom at all," I shot back in a mocking tone, "And I think Mr. Raven is worrying too much. I say anything is better than guarding the Meeting Room door."

"But if you take this job, kupo, you'll _really _regret it!!! You don't know what he might have planned for you!!! If you take this job, you might--"

I interrupted her by slamming the coffee table in front of me and getting up off the couch, and I glared at her annoying little moogle face.

"Look! I am tired of you always butting in when you're not wanted, reading my mind, and trying to tell me what's right! So you know what? I'm going to accept this job and guard Hojo's lab! And you're not going to stop me! Do I make myself clear?!"

Bibble shrank back as I was saying that and looked like a punished little puppy. Then she said in a small voice, "Well, kupo, I hope you know what you're doing." And with that she vanished.

After a moment I realized what I'd just done and felt really guilty for it. I'd never yelled at her that way before. I'd usually get angry and play sarcasm, but I'd never outright exploded in her face like that. I sat back down on the couch and pondered the situation.

I'd already made up my mind about accepting Hojo's job offer, but why was everyone being so paranoid?

"I'll worry about it another time," I thought to myself, "I'm too comfortable on this couch to care about anything right now."

Just then, my phone started ringing. I picked it up and answered.

"Hello?"

"Lenore, the President has called another emergency meeting and--"

"Lemme guess, Commander, you want me to guard the door again, right?"

"Precisely. Be there within the hour, Lenore, because that's when the meeting's starting. Dammit, Lenore! Your last name sounds too much like a first name!"

"Not my fault, Sir. I was born with it," I replied with a smirk on my face.

"Well, you just get to that meeting. Ya got that?"

"Yes, sir." I said as I hung up the phone and started getting ready for work. 

********        ********        ********

When I got to work, everyone was present and accounted for at the meeting. All were there, except for Hojo. I asked a man named Reeve as he was walking in if he knew where Hojo was.

"I don't know. He's probably still down in his lab. Why are you interested in Hojo?"

"He offered me a job," I answered.

"Ohhh," he answered in a rather strange deep tone. "Well, if you're actually thinking of accepting, I suggest you remember to keep on your toes." He then continued into the meeting room. "And don't take your eyes off him," he called back as he headed towards his place at the table.

"Uh, ok."

After a few moments, I looked in the meeting room to see if everyone was ready, All the usual attendees, minus Hojo, were in their usual places. The suits all in their seats, The President in his seat at the end of the table on the far end of the room, and Wyndom standing just a few feet behind and to the left of the President's chair. When all was ready, I shut the doors and the meeting began. I decided to actually pay attention to the meeting. I wanted to know what was going on.

I started listening in when three people ran passed in front of me through the hallway. One was a young woman with long brown hair, thick and leathery fighting gloves, and a bust size that could throw any male guard off his concentration. The second person was a huge dark-skinned man with a gatling gun for a right hand. He seemed to be the most determined of the three to get to wherever they were going. The third person looked like a SOLDIER because he was wearing the same purple jumpsuit most SOLDIERs wear. He had blonde spiky hair and carried a very large buster sword on his back.

They seemed like suspicious people, so I watched them as they ran around the corner of the hall. I watched them go further down that hall and into the bathroom.

"The bathroom?" I thought in confusion. "Maybe the big guy really had to go."

I went back to my post and was finally able to listen in on the conversation uninterrupted. They were already discussing the damage on Sector Seven.

"We have the damage estimates for Sector Seven," Reeve reported, "Considering those factories we already set up and all the investments, the damage is estimated at approximated 10 billion gil."

There was a few seconds of silence before he continued.

"The estimated cost to rebuild Sector Seven is--"

"We're not rebuilding," President Shinra interrupted.

"What?" Reeve replied.

"'What' is right," I thought.

"We're leaving Sector Seven as it is," the President continued, "And restarting the Neo-Midgar plan."

"Neo-Midgar plan?" I asked myself, "What the hell is Neo-Midgar?"

"...Then the Ancients?" Reeve asked.

"The Promised Land will soon be ours," said the President, "I want you to raise the Mako rates fifteen percent in every area."

"What?!" I thought in surprise, "They're raising our electric bills! Those bastards!"

"Rate hike! Rate hike! Tra, la, la!" Sang the head of the Space Division, Palmer, "And please include our space program in the budget!"

"Reeve and Scarlet will divide the extra income from the rate increases," replied the President.

"Oh, man!" Palmer whined.

"Sir, if you raise the rates," Reeve started, "the people will lose confidence..."

"You're damn right we will!" I thought to myself.

"It'll be alright," The President assured him, "The ignorant citizens won't lose confidence, they'll trust Shin-Ra, Inc. even more."

"Yea, right!" I thought, "What about the non-ignorant citizens?"

"Ha, Ha, Ha!" Laughed Heidegger, "After all, we're the ones who saved Sector Seven from AVALANCHE!"

"Ya, by crushing everybody in Sector Seven in the process!" I thought.

Just when I was about to burst into the door and protest, a familiar-looking white lab coat caught my eye. I looked over to Hojo, who was walking towards the Meeting Room. When he reached the door, he stopped in front of me.

"Ah, good afternoon," he greeted. "I trust the meeting is as boring as usual."

"Yea, I guess you could say that," I answered, "Why are you so late?"

"I had something to take care of in my lab. I'll be back with you after I speak with these idiots."

I let him through the door, and he walked in and stood in front of the meeting table. I shut the door and continued eavesdropping.

"Hojo," The President greeted, "How's the girl?"

"As a specimen, she is inferior to her mother," Hojo answered, "I'm still in the process of comparing her to her mother, Ifalna, but for now the difference is eighteen percent."

"Ok, if the President asked about her as if she were human," I wondered to myself in confusion, "Why is Hojo talking about her as if she was an animal?"

"How long will the research take?" Asked the President.

"Probably one-hundred twenty years," Hojo answered with a smirk in his tone, "It's probably impossible to finish in our lifetime. Or in the lifetime of the specimen too, for that matter."

"What are they talking about?" I thought, "What is this specimen? And what does she have to do with Midgar?"

"That's why we're thinking of breeding her," Hojo continued, "Then we could create one that could withstand our research for a long time."

"'Breed her?'" I mocked in thought, "With what? A talking dog?"

"What about the Promised Land?" President Shinra asked, "Won't it hinder our plans?"

"That's what I need to plan," Answered Hojo, "The mother is strong... and yet has her weaknesses."

"That concludes our meeting," The President announced.

There were sounds of chairs moving as they all got up to leave. After a moment, people started walking out of the room.

"Something stinks..." Said Scarlet as she paused for a moment and then left the room.

After everyone was gone, I looked in the room to see if anyone was still inside. I walked toward the back of the meeting room to see what Scarlet was talking about. I noticed there was in fact a distinct smell as I walked closer to the back of the room.

"Smells like..." I pondered as I walked, "...crap?"

As I got to the back of the room, I could definitely recognize the smell literally as crap. I looked up and saw an air duct.

"The smell's coming from there..." I said out loud. I thought I could hear banging sounds coming from inside.

"Indeed it is," said a familiar creepy voice behind me. I turned around and saw Hojo standing right behind me.

"That air duct leads to the restroom just across the hall through that wall," he said pointing to the wall on the side of the room. "So, my lovely young security guard, have you thought about my job offer?"

"Yes I have," I answered, "And I think I'll accept."

"Excellent," He replied, his eyes narrowed as he said it, "You'll start tonight."

"What?" I responded, "So soon?"

"I say it's never too early to start," he answered, "I'm sure someone of your skill can handle it."

"Uh, sure."

"Meet me on the sixty-eighth floor at around eight tonight," He had a crooked grin on his face as he was saying that, "I'll be waiting."

Then he turned around and left. While he was walking towards the stairs, I went to the elevator and went home to rest up. 

********        ********        ********

I was having lunch on my couch when I heard a knock on the door. I got up and went over to the door. I opened it and there was Kate, holding a box that would be used to hold clothes.

"Moira! Hi!" She greeted with a smile.

"Uh, hi Kate," I wasn't expecting her, "Why dontcha come in?"

"Thanks, darlin', but I can't. I just came to drop this off." She said handing me the box, "Another favor Allen asked me for. "

"What is it?" I wondered.

"Well, open it and find out."

I opened it and found what looked like a fighting outfit. I took it out of the box to get a better look at it.

"Wow…" I couldn't help but be impressed by it.

"Just something I designed with Allen a week ago. I had the materials ready, just not the measurements. So when you came in, that was my op."

"You mean this was what the measurements were for?"

"Ya, that's it," She smiled, "Well, do ya like it?"

"Well, of course I like it. I love it! Thanks!"

"No problem, hon," she replied, "It's also made of mythiril, so of course it would make an excellent fighting outfit. It's durable enough not to tear, unless of course you cut it with something first. And it's designed to be comfortable and not to get in the way when you're fighting."

"That's awesome," I stared at the outfit some more.

"Well, you go ahead and try it on and I'll just head outta here and back to the store," Kate said as she started walking away, "I got lots I have to get done."

"Wait!" I called to her, realizing something.

"Ya?" She answered.

"Where'd you get my address from?"

"Let's just say a little Raven told me," she smiled as she turned around and walked away. "Later, hon."

"Later, Kate!" I called back before shutting the door.

I looked at the outfit again and decided to go try it on. I ran over to my room, took off what I was wearing, and put on the new outfit.

It was a two-piece outfit, mostly blue and with a loose fit. The shirt had long sleeves, ending at the wrists with tight-fit black cuffs with gold criss-crossed embroidering. There was an inch-wide belt that was worn over the shirt, leaving the rest of the shirt hanging underneath. The bottom of the shirt had a red strip along the edge. There was also a pair of pieces of the shirt that looked like shoulder covering, which also had a red strip along the edge. The collar, which went over where the shoulder pieces began, was the same gold-color as the embroidering on the cuffs. It was in a v-shape ending right in the middle of my chest, revealing a magenta "undercloth," which was actually sewn into the shirt, but looked like there was a separate garment underneath. The pants had the same loose fit and ended tight-fitting at the thigh, just like the wrist-cuffs, with the same black color and gold embroidering.

I pulled some plain, black, no-heeled shoes from my closet and put those on with the outfit. It was a great outfit. I'd never actually had a real fighting outfit before, and this was certainly something I'd not expected. I was about to reach for my scythe when I heard another knock on the door.

I went and opened the door and saw Raven slouched on the doorway with his head drooped over. When I opened the door, he looked up at me. That's when I saw the scared look and the sweat running down his face. His eyes seemed completely out of focus.

"Raven?!" I blurted out.

"Moira…" he answered faintly and stumbled through my door. I caught him before he could fall to the floor.

"What's the matter?" I asked as I propped him up and shut the door. I then took him to the couch and laid him down on his back. I knelt down next to the couch and kept a close eye on him. I took his hand and held it.

"Something's… wrong!" He said as if he was struggling with his words.

"What's wrong?" I asked a little more anxiously. "What's going on?!"

"Voices… In my head…"

"Voices?" I responded as I felt his forehead. He was in a cold sweat.

"They actually started about… two weeks ago, but… they were faint enough to ignore… wait…" I watched as he lay there silently for a moment, then he sat up, taking his hand away from mine, and his eyes were focused again. He looked at me and realized how worried I was.

"They're dimmed down now… For the moment." It didn't make me feel any better.

"Why didn't you ever tell me you were hearing voices?" I asked.

"First off, I don't think you would've ever agreed to go out with me if you knew."

"You're right, I wouldn't."

"Second off, even during the few days we've been together, I didn't want to worry you. Especially since I never thought the voices would ever actually get any louder than ignorable."

I looked down and saw that his hands were shaking. I grabbed them with mine and tried to comfort him. I looked back up at him.

"I'm here now," I assured him.

"Ya," He replied raising his right hand. He ran his fingers across my brow and around my cheek. "You're here. That's the only good thing right now."

He looked at me with that same tender look, except this time his gaze seemed a little more distant, and then I noticed that the mako glow in his eyes seemed dimmer than usual.

"Your eyes!" I pointed out, "They're dimming!"

"Jenova…" He answered.

"What?"

He blinked, realizing what he'd just said, and his face suddenly turned white. He then shut his eyes tightly and shook his head.

"No! No! No!" He yelled in frustration letting go of my hands to hold his head.

"What is it?"

"That's what the voices keep saying!" He answered, "Jenova! And something about a reunion!"

"What's Jenova?"

"I don't know who or what it is or what it has to do with me, but that's what the voices keep saying!"

I reached up and grabbed his hands, pulling them down from his head to join in between us. He then looked up at me again, eyes wide with terror.

"I'm scared," he muttered.

I let go of his hands and brought myself closer to him. I wrapped my arms around him, and he did the same with me.

"I can hardly hear my own thoughts anymore," he said, "They're getting louder again."

"Don't worry," I whispered, "I'll se if I can find a way to help you."

Then a thought occurred to me, and I helped him up off the couch, picked up my scythe, and went out the door.

********        ********        ********

I figured that the voices in Raven's head may have had something to do with the mako treatment that Hojo gave him, so I decided to take him with me to see Hojo to see if he could cure him. It was a long walk because I was holding my scythe with my left hand while helping Raven walk with my other arm, and both he and the scythe were quite heavy. All the while I'd hear Raven mutter "Jenova" or "reunion" as we went. There didn't seem to be much time left, so I went as fast as I could with my heavy load.

            I was exhausted when we finally got to the lab on the sixty-eighth floor of the Shinra Building. The lab itself only took a little more than half of the sixty-eighth floor; the rest was a hall leading to the stairs. The hall was lined with laser security, so I was guessing he wanted me to guard the elevator entrance. I walked in, but didn't see Hojo anywhere. Then I saw him come up the elevator.

            "Miss Lenore," He greeted, grinning. Then he saw Raven. "And who's this?"

            "He's a SOLDIER. And I think you might be able to help him."

            "Let me guess. He's hearing voices in his head, saying 'Jenova' and 'reunion' and now he's too weak from constantly hearing them."

            It amazed me how correct he was, "Uh, yes."

            "I know just what to do with him. Just leave him with me, and you can go down to the prison cells in the sixty-seventh floor to wait for your briefing."

            "Thank you." I handed Raven to one of Hojo's assistants that Hojo called to help, and I went on my way to the sixty-seventh floor. I looked back at Raven as I walked into the elevator, and I saw his hand reaching to me. I ran back out and took his hand.

            He attempted to lift his gaze to me, but he seemed far too dazed to focus on anything. The glow in his eyes was about gone, but I could see a blue color in his eyes, which I assumed was his natural eye-color. It was a deep blue.

            I leaned over and kissed his forehead. I held his head up and looked in his deep blue eyes, hoping to find him looking back at me.

"I love you, Raven," I whispered. "I'll come back for you once everything's finished, I promise."

"Reunion," he whispered back.

"That's right, reunion. OUR reunion. You come back to me, you hear?"

"Reunion," he answered, nodding his head, "Moira."

I smiled hearing my own name. It gave me some hope that he'd be back.

"Alright, that's enough for now," Hojo interrupted, "We can't do anything if we don't get started."

"Right," I kissed him again and let him go. The assistant holding him started taking him away as I watched. When he was out of my sight, Hojo walked up to me with a wide grin on his face.

"He's in good hands," he said to me, "You brought him just in time."

"Thanks," it was all I could say. I really didn't want to leave him, but what choice did I have? I wasn't about to let him stay alone in my apartment dying in his insanity. If anyone could do anything about it, Hojo could.

"I only hope this was the right thing," I sighed.

"Don't you worry about a thing," Hojo assured me, "He has yet to fulfill the purpose of his being."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"He is young," he answered, "He still has the rest of his life to give."

I turned around and started walking to the elevator.

"I'll give you your briefing as soon as I am ready to begin," he said to me as I walked into the elevator.

I went down to the sixty-seventh floor. The place was littered with large wooden crates. I walked past them to find a large transparent tank. The only thing that was in it was a large animal. I looked in the tank to get a better look at the creature in the tank. It was red in color and looked a lot like a lion, but his tail ended in a blaze of fire and his mane wasn't very big. In fact it looked more like the mane of a zebra, but all dark brown and ending at spiky bangs in front of its face. The mane also had two long tufts hanging down beside its head, both ending with hair ties. The animal wore gold bangles around each of his legs, two sets of earrings on each ear, and a feather behind each ear. He had black tattoos all over him, but the one that stuck out the most was a tattoo on his front leg  of the letters XIII.

After a moment, the animal noticed me and looked at me. He then scratched his ear with his hind foot and went back to just laying down.

I then moved on past and saw a larger machine on the other side of me. It looked kind of like a container of some sort, but there was only one small window on the door of the container. And as I looked at it, the window glowed with a bright purple light. I took a closer look at that and found a very disturbing sight.

It almost looked human, except it was rather deformed, it glowed purple, and it didn't have a head. I simply backed away from that and walked on.

I continued through a hall and around a corner until I reached an area with six prison cells.

"Ok, now that I'm here," I said to myself, "All I have to do is wait."

"Wait for what?" A soft voice asked from seemingly nowhere.

It startled me, so I looked through the small window on the door of a nearby cell to see where the voice came from. In one of the cells was a lady who looked like she was in her mid-twenties. She wore a pink button-up dress that went down to mid-calf level. Over her dress she wore a red, short-sleeved jacket. She had long, light-brown brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail that was braided into a twist look. The hair-tie was a large pink ribbon with a small white orb on it. It looked kinda like materia, but since when did materia come in white?

Since this small prison was meant to hold intruders until the proper authorities arrived, I guessed she was just another intruder. She was sitting on the cot that was set on the side of the room when I looked in.

"Did you say something?" I asked.

"Yes I did," she answered, "I asked what you were waiting for."

"Oh, I'm just waiting for orders. I was told to wait here for them."

"I see," She said, getting up off the cot, "I guess you're a Shinra security guard."

"Yes I am," I answered, "Why are you in here?"

"I was kidnapped by the Turks and brought here."

"The Turks? Shinra's super secret service of top officers?"

"The very same."

"Why would the Turks go into kidnapping?"

"Because President Shinra probably told them to."

Then something occurred to me.

"So then she's probably that girl they were talking about in the meeting," I thought to myself

She looked at me through the window of her cell. Her pale green eyes seemed really focused. With the way she was looking at me, it felt as if she was staring into the very depths of my soul. It was an uncomfortable feeling.

"W-What are you looking at?" I asked nervously.

"Someone very close to you will need your help very soon," she said to me with a concerned look on her face. "As well as a soul you've yet to meet."

"What?" I replied, confused.

"You will know who I mean when the time comes, but for now keep an eye out."

"Uh… Thanks… I guess," I responded.

I looked over and saw Hojo walking around the corner. I then started walking to meet with him.

"For the record, my name is Aeris," she whispered as I walked away.

Her name wasn't my concern at the moment. I walked up to Hojo.

"Is Raven going to be ok?"

"If you mean the young SOLDIER you brought with you, I have him in a safe place," he answered, "I'll take care of him shortly. First I need to give you your first assignment."

"Well, let's hear it."

"You are to guard the specimen in the tank over in the room down the hall from us until he is required for my experiment."

"You mean the tank with the hug red cat thing?"

"Yes, but I like to refer to him as Red XIII."

"Ok, guarding him shouldn't be that hard"

"Good. Now you may go to your post."

And so I left the prison, Hojo following close behind, and went back to the cage holding Red XIII.

When I got there, I found him on the side of the tank, standing on his hindquarters, leaning on the glass wall that kept him contained. With his front paws, he was scratching the glass, as if he was trying to dig through it or something. He seemed to be trying to figure out a way to escape, but couldn't quite get it. When he saw me, he stopped scratching the wall and sat down where he was. Then he walked over to the middle of the tank and laid down.

"Isn't he a marvelous specimen?" He asked me as we approached, "He was captured near Cosmo Canyon. He is a very rare creature. The last of his kind."

I then turned around and saw the tank with the glowing window again.

"And what's the thing over there in the other tank?" I asked. He turned around and grinned at the sight of it.

"That?" He asked, pointing at the machine I was referring to, "That should not concern you now. Now you must guard the specimen in _this_ tank." He pointed at Red XIII's tank.

"Alright," I responded and took my spot. He walked over to the elevator and went up to the lab.

"Well," I thought to myself, "At least I'm not guarding the meeting room door anymore."

I looked in Red XIII's tank again and saw a familiar-looking moogle floating in front of Red XIII. It looked like she was… talking to him?

"Bibble?!" I yelled out in surprise, "What the hell are _you_ doing here?"

She stopped whatever she was doing with Red XIII and floated over to me.

"I was just talking to my friend, kupo."

"Friend, huh?" I looked over at Red XIII.

He got up from the spot he was laying in and trotted over to the side of the tank where we were. Then he sat down in front of me. He seemed to move more like a dog than a cat.

"You two know each other, Holly?" Red asked in a growled voice.

 "Dah! You can talk?!" I yelped.

"Of course I can," he answered.

"I've known Mr. Nanaki since he was a puppy, kupo," Bibble explained.

"Nanaki?" I wondered out loud.

"That's his name, kupo," Bibble answered.

"Although Hojo refers to me as Red XIII, a name that carried no meaning to me."

"So how long have you been in here?" I asked Nanaki.

"I don't even remember how long it has been," he answered.

Then I remembered what happened between Bibble and me earlier.

"Hey, Bibble?" I started to say, "I--"

"I know, Miss Moira. I forgive you. I can understand your frustration, kupo, but now you know that it's hurtful to speak your anger without thinking. It was because of that, kupo, that I never saw it coming."

"Ya, I was being an stupid jerk earlier," I said apologetically.

"And it didn't help that I had to go into your house to tell you, kupo," Bibble also apologizing, "I should not have invaded your privacy like that."

"Well, that's not much compared to my exploding in your face."

"Well, we both made mistakes and learned something, kupo. So now I think we should just forget it ever happen."

"I agree," I answered, almost not believing that I was actually agreeing with Bibble.

"It is good when friends forgive and forget," said Nanaki.

"But I _still _think it was a bad idea for you to take the job, kupo," Bibble pointed out.

"I'll be fine," I answered. "I'm standing here talking to a non-existent fairy-like creature and an endangered species in a laboratory tank. What could be any weirder than that?"

"That there's someone right behind you with a dart gun!" Bibble yelled as Nanaki stood poised to attack, growling like a raged hound.

"What?" I quickly turned around, but not before I felt a pinch in my right shoulder. I saw a shadowy figure step further into the shadows, so I couldn't see who it was.

The fact that my vision started blurring didn't help either.

"Miss Moira!" I heard something calling in the distance as well as a loud barking sound. I looked at my shoulder and saw a dart in it, but for some strange reason, I couldn't bring my hand to reach up to pull it out. I felt myself fall to the floor as my vision blurred more and then all went into darkness.

********        ********        ********

I woke up and found myself in some glowing green liquid with a breathing mask on my face. I looked around and found tubes sticking all over my body. I was securely restrained in a cross position where I hung in the tank. The tank itself seemed to be connected to some machine nearby, but I couldn't see very far beyond the glass. That and I was just waking up from the tranquilizer dart, so my eyesight was still woozy.

I looked out of the tank through the strange, green water and found Hojo looking back at me. He had a huge grin on his face that was wide enough to be mistaken for a crack in his face.

"So they were right," I thought to myself, "And I refused to believe it. What's going to happen now? What's to become of me? What horrible, twisted plan could he possibly have for me? And what happened to Raven? Raven!! What did he do with Raven?! I have to get out of here!"

I struggled to break loose, but the restraint were well-fastened. I looked down and saw Hojo again. He seemed to have enjoyed my futile attempt to get out. Then I noticed a small object in his hand.

"What is that?" I wondered to myself, "It doesn't look like materia."

It looked like a green stone with a red lightning bolt design in the middle of the stone. And it seemed to shine in the same way materia did, but there was something about it that seemed different. Hojo came closer to the tank, as if he wanted me to get a better look at the object he was holding.

"Some idiot found it in a mako reactor one day," I heard Hojo speaking in the tank. Apparently he had installed waterproof speakers in the tank so I could hear what he wanted to say. The speakers weren't all that great, so the speech was a little garbled, but I could still understand him, nonetheless.

"Nobody could figure out what it was," he continued, "so it was sent to me for examination. After studying it, I decided to experiment with it. All I needed was a specimen to try it on. A healthy young woman like yourself seemed perfect for the experiment."

"Healthy?" I scoffed in my thoughts, "I guess he never saw my record of drinking."

"Hiring you was just a lure to get you close enough to the lab for me to acquire you for my experiment."

"Bastard," I thought, "I wish I'd listened to all those warnings now."

Then he turned around and walked away from me to a machine on the far side of the room. I saw him place the green stone on a grappler on the machine. The stone then glowed bright green, and then the glow started to spread to the tubes leading to the tank, and in turn to the ones hooked to me. I felt a great amount of pain before blacking out again.


	8. Ch 6½: Hojo

Chapter 6½

The Moira Project

Hojo's Log: Private Experiment 041

     I have collected the specimen Moira Lenore, which I require for my experiment. If I am successful, I will merely have satisfied my curiosity. I will keep this experiment private and leave no record of it save for myself, so I will have to write this log in great detail. I will write every detail and every thought as it happens. I've really nothing else to do while I wait for my two missing specimens (both of which escaped around half an hour after this one was rendered unconscious) to be returned to me, so why let the "superiors" know about it? Therefore I have constructed this hidden room in my lab that will forever remain a secret.

     When she came to the lab she brought with her a member of SOLDIER. I examined the young man and found his records in my archives. Allen Usher, whom many call "Raven", was stationed in the town of Nibelheim five years ago, just a few weeks before the town's destruction. He has Jenova's cells surging through his blood stream, Jenova being the Ancient being of great magical power. The cells yearn to return to the greater body, to become one again. The magic in these cells forces voices to echo in the boy's head that it must return to Jenova and go to the reunion.

     In most cases, it causes the person to constantly repeat the words "Jenova" and "Reunion." But since his seperation from the young Moira, he's been repeating "Reunion" and "Moira." It seems that he is fighting against the influence of Jenova's cells. Poor fool. I set him loose somewhere in the Slums. He will eventually find his way to the reunion. Though he is not my primary concern. The young Miss Lenore is ready to begin her role in this experiment.

I have in my possession and in my hand a green stone that contains very powerful magic. I am sure it is not materia, for its glow is not that of mako, the energy from the Lifestream which, when compressed, makes materia. The only other possibility that I can think of is that this stone is a piece of ancient magecite, the primitive form of the Summon Materia. It is said that thousands of years ago, pieces of magecite fell into the Lifestream and eventually became the red Summon Materia used today. If this was so, then this one was obviously one of the stronger ones that fell in the Lifestream and somehow ended up in one of the mako reactors. It is indeed quite a rare find. If magecite weren't so rare, I probably would have presented my idea to the president long ago. I am not certain what unfortunate Esper may be contained in the magecite, but I have ways of finding out.

The specimen I have collected for the experiment is a young girl in her early twenties. She is said to be an excellent scythe-fighter and an excellent security guard, quite possibly the best in Midgar, though her skill was wasted guarding that fool of a president's meeting room. This is why I have chosen her to "guard" my lab, though for the moment there is nothing to guard, save the equipment and my specimens. She is an excellent specimen, one best not left to waste.

I have her in a special tank filled with liquid mako. For the moment, she is unconscious, but I gave her a breathing mask in the very likely case that she wakes up during the experiment. She is firmly restrained in a cross position. It only seemed fitting to me since this is her last hour of humanity, that is if she survives the experiment. Her body punctured with several tubes, connecting her to the outside of the tank. There is a screen to the right of the tank that shows me her current status and brainwaves. They are currently minimal, normal for one who is unconscious. The tank itself is an egg-shape, connected by tubes and wires to a large machine of my own design and making.

The machine is meant to extract the very essence of the magecite, then analyze and identify the Esper within. It then will inject the essence into the specimen and fuse it into her DNA. I also thought if injecting some of JENOVA's cells, but I did not think it necessary for this particular experiment. Mako and ancient magic seems enough.

The specimen awakes. The screen shows barely active brainwaves. She is still a bit drowsy from the tranquilizer I gave her. She looks at me a moment with a tired and angry look in her eyes. She tries to break free from her restraints, but to no avail. She seems to notice the magecite in my hand, but doesn't seem to recognize it. I walk up and show it to how and I tell her where it came from. I think I shall now give her a taste of what it is.

     I walk over to the machine and place the magecite over it. Small grapplers grab it and hold it in place as a small tube attaches itself to the magecite and begins the extraction. I look up at the screen to see what I was working with. The image on the screen is a feline creature with long hair on its head. Its tail splits into three at the end, each with a different tip. One looks like a lightning bolt, the second looks like a flame, and the third looks like a piece of ice. Its front paws were more like hands, and its body structure shows that it was capable of walking on either two legs or all fours, depending on the desired movement. The screen also shows me the creature's name and status.

**Name:** Hikorai 

**Gender: **Female

**Element: **Fire, Ice, Lightning

**Height: **3.9 m

**Weight: **680.4 kg

**Age at Death: **uncertain

     Age at death? Oh yes, Espers were once a living breathing species, and when an esper died, they became magecite.

The screen shows a different message now, this time in flashing red letters on a green background.

**Press the Red Button**

**To Begin the Injection**

Excellent. It is ready to proceed. I reach over to the button to the left of the spot where I placed the magecite. I press it and the magecite begins to glow a bright green. I look over to the specimen wondering how she thought of this. It doesn't really matter what she thinks, but she looks frightened. I like it. It gives me all the more reason to proceed with the experiment.

The glow from the magecite is beginning to flow through the tubes and into the tank, and in turn to the specimen. She squirms a bit before blacking out and her screen begins showing the sign that she is once again unconscious. This is unfortunate, because I do so enjoy watching my specimens squirm. Nothing appears to be happening for the moment.

Now all of the essence from the magecite has been injected into the specimen and is being fused into her DNA, but there is still no sign of change. No wait, there does appear to be a change in her physical appearance. The screen doesn't show any change in her brainwaves, but she is beginning to take more of a feline form. I am not seeing a change in her body size or muscle mass.

This is quite interesting. While the shape of her body remains fairly human, her features resemble that of the Esper in the magecite. She now has fur covering her body and her ears are larger and cat-like. Her face is only a little like a feline. Her hands have grown claws, and her feet have grown out of the shoes they were in as they were turning into paws. She hasn't grown a tail that I can see, but now the changes have stopped. So this is it. This beautiful creation is what I have accomplished here. This was certainly an amusing little activity. But now I am being called for. Perhaps they have finally captured my specimens. I'm turning off the machine, except for the life support for my beautiful specimen. I now leave this room and will return when I have the time. This concludes my log... for now.

***    ***    ***

(Several Weeks Later)

It has been a while since my last visit to this room. Sephiroth has used the legendary Black Materia and has summoned Meteor. According to legend, Meteor will come down from space and destroy the world unless an Ancient uses the legendary Holy Materia to protect the world from Meteor. Oddly enough, Sephiroth killed the only Ancient capable of it, and the Holy Materia was lost as well. Oh well. I figured I would see how my secret experiment is doing. After this, I will go to the Sister Ray, the gigantic mako-cannon from Junon that was recently installed into Midgar, connecting to all of Midgar's mako reactors. Once there, I will lend my helping hand to my finest creation and only son, Sephiroth.

There has not been any change in this specimen's status since I left. She is still alive, unconscious but alive. The screen shows a little bit of activity in her brainwaves, but I paid it no mind.

Looking back up at the specimen, I notice that her eyes are glowing. I don't know what to expect from this, but I watch to see what happens. She is changing again. After all this time, she has continued her transformation. Now her body is growing in size, and her features are becoming more cat-like than before. She's growing too large for her restraints, so I'll release them in a moment before going to the Sister Ray. Midgar is doomed anyway, so what is one more destructive force going to do?

I am finally at the Sister Ray. I am standing at the controls, looking down at the monitors. One of them shows a large creature almost identical to the Esper in the magecite, breaking through what used to be Sector Seven. She seems to be occupied trying to find her way through there, so I think I'll just leave her to that and concentrate on more important matters. I seem to have company now, and I do not wish to let my private thoughts get in the way of business. This concludes my log.


	9. Ch 7: Confusion

Chapter VII 

**Confusion**

[Hikorai]

I awoke in a glass tank filled with a bizarre glowing green-colored liquid.

"I am awake… alive?" I thought in surprise, "But how?"

The possibility of being awake seemed severely strange to me because I remembered quite clearly that I had died. There was a strong smell of old plastic, which by then I'd realized was the smell of a breathing mask that was on my face.

"Something is wrong," I thought. I looked down and saw a human in a long, white coat. I assumed that he was probably the one responsible for my being in this tank. 

"Something is very wrong," I concluded, "I must escape from here."

I felt my body begin to change shape, as if growing in size. It certainly seemed so since the tank was growing smaller. I could not see where the human went, but it mattered not to me.  I only wanted to get out.

Whoever it was that kept me in the tank seemed to have released the restraints that were holding me in place in the tank. This made things easier for me. I ripped off all the laboratory equipment attached to me and smashed the glass in front of me with my bare fist.

I leapt out of the tank, growling ferociously. I then began looking around my surroundings to see if I could figure out where I was. The room was rather small for someone my size, I would have had to duck if I was to stand upright. I stayed on all fours because it was comfortable. I could hear panic in rooms nearby, and there was a slight scent of blood and adrenaline in the air. Something disastrous was happening here. But then I notice that I was in a room filled with machines I'd never seen before.

"What is all this?" I wondered in confusion, "The magic powering these machines does not feel familiar to me at all."

I looked around the room a moment until I finally spotted something that I recognized.

"Magecite," I thought.

I approached the magecite and the strange machine that it was attached to. It appeared to me as if the magecite was being used to power the machine, but then I remembered the strange feel of the magic in the machines. I therefore ruled out that possibility.

"What else could this magecite piece be for?" I wondered. I held my hand over the magecite piece to see if I could sense the spirit of the esper inside, but I felt nothing. The magecite piece was empty.

"How can this be?" I thought in confusion, "How can there be no spirit within this magecite?"

I then pressed a button next to the magecite piece, hoping to find an answer. An image appeared on the screen over the machine.

"Collected data opened," said the machine, "Opening file on esper in magecite."

I was shocked at what I saw next.

"No!" I thought in surprise, "It cannot be!"

But it was. The image showed a feline esper with long hair on its head and a tail that forked into three, each end with a different shape, showing either fire, ice, or lightning. The image on the screen was my own. I kept watching to see if it would show me something more. Then some text appeared on the screen.

"Displaying esper data."

I was in shock when I read the information, reading my own name, powers, and physical features.

"This can only mean that I have in fact died," I realized, "If this magecite was me, and this is what is left of my body… then whose…?"

As if to answer my question before I could finish, the screen showed a different image.

"Opening file of experimented specimen."

It showed the image of a young human girl in her early twenties. She had straight, shoulder-length drown hair and light green eyes. She looked like someone who was good on the battlefield.

"Moira Lenore: Shin-Ra Security Guard."

"How could this have happened?"

The computer then showed both of our images alongside each other. She was much smaller than I was. If I were to stand on my hind legs she would be little more then one third my height.

"Normal size for a human," I said to myself, "But my body size is enormous compared to hers, so how in the world am I this size now?"

The computer then showed some more text.

"DNA fusion successful," It said, "Experiment completed. File deletion in progress."

"Deletion?" I wondered.

"Files deleted. This experiment never happened. Have a nice day."

"What?!" I responded, "How can you say that this event never occurred?! I am here, among the living!"

I then sat down to ponder for a moment.

"And in another being's body. This machine was used to extract everything in my Magecite and place it into the DNA in this human girl's body."

I then noticed her presence in the back of my mind. Her mind seemed to be asleep. Perhaps she herself was still unconscious from what had happened.

"What twisted individual would do something like this?"

"Hojo…" answered a faint voice from deep within my mind. It gave me a shocked, but then I realized that it might've been this Moira person. I paused for a moment to see if this voice would say something else.

"Hojo!" It repeated, this time in an angry growled voice. I then felt a sudden surge of anger and thrust my claws into the machine in front of me. After I pulled my hand out, ripping out any wires that were in my way, I regained control, surprised at what I had just done. The anger seemed to come from nowhere.

"That was not me doing that…" I concluded.

"…what?" the voice said in confusion.

I then felt a great and sudden swelling of fear, but it was not my own. Moira, not understanding what was happening, started to panic in this confusion, and the panic was surging through the body.

"What's going on?!" she cried, "What did he do to me?!"

"Please calm down," I tried, but it only seemed to make things worse.

I then started to feel as if my mind was being flushed into a whirlpool, Moira's mind along with mine. I lost all control of the body, and it began rampaging through the room, destroying in sight.

When there was no more to destroy in the room, we burst through the door and into the hallway. We ran for what seemed like hours through blurred images of doors, machines, and humans both living and dead, mostly dead. The smell of blood was much stronger outside of the room, but I was barely able to notice it for some strange reason. I was having difficulty keeping up with what was happening. It was like my mind was being pushed back while another was trying to push forward to control the body.

After much running we tore through the wall, which led to the outside of the building. I then noticed that the building was merely the grand seventy-story centerpiece of a gigantic mechanical city on a round plate that was suspended above the ground. A section of the plate had fallen to the ground far below, and that was the section we were falling toward.

We landed on our feet on a large steel beam that stuck out of the twisted mass of metal. The landing was very painful, but I think the body was undamaged. After this my mind slipped into darkness.

********        ********        ********

[Bibble's P.O.V., A few minutes earlier]

I searched and I searched, but she wasn't anywhere in sight.

"Oh, where could she be, kupo?" I was getting worried. I was beginning to wonder if I was ever going to find her.

I flew around the inside of the building, hoping to even pick up a trace of Miss Moira's mind. After going through one of the abandoned floors a huge blur zipped past in the hallway ahead.

"Huh?! What was that, kupo?!" I rushed over to see what it was, but the creature was already halfway down the hall by the time I got there. It ran on all fours and took up a little bit more than half the height and width of the hallway.

I flew after it, curious how a creature that size could be all the way up on the fifty-somethingth floor of the building. I didn't keep track of where I was because the only thing I worried about was finding Miss Moira. I still couldn't sense her thoughts, but there was something strangely familiar about this creature that I had to find out.

It kept running down all the halls and went down several sets of stairs. Passing through a large factory-looking room, it stopped at one point and stared at some machine for a moment before rushing off again.

I stopped and looked at the machine the creature was staring at.

"What's this?" I wondered, "Why are these people sleeping here like this, kupo? And why do they all look alike?"

There were four identical guys seemingly sleeping next to each other by this strange machine. One of them was actually connected to the machine. I looked around and found a label.

"Shinra Androids: X Edition." I read out loud. "Oh! They're machines. That makes sense, kupo."

Then I noticed the number labels on the Androids, in particular the one still connected to the machine.

"Android X-17…" I read, "Kupo, I wonder if this was what that creature was staring at. Hmm."

I looked over and noticed that I'd lost the creature completely.

"Oh, no! I have to catch up with it, kupo!" I rushed off to try and catch up with it.

After leaving the room I rushed down the hall, looking down every other hall I passed, but there was no sign of it.

"Oh dear, kupo," I sighed, "Now what am I gonna do?"

Then I saw the creature come from around the corner and rushing in my general direction. I panicked and covered my eyes, hoping this would help me hide from it.

Then I felt a rush of hot air in front of me. I opened my eyes, and saw the creatures face right in front of me.

It was staring at me with its savage eyes, growling softly as it did. I couldn't read an active mind in this monster. It was like it was operating on basic animal instinct and some mind was barely reaching from behind. It seemed to strangely recognize me at any rate.

"That's it!" I realized, "There's a mind sleeping inside! That's why I've been urged to follow this creature!"

It sniffed at me, as if thinking about whether it wanted to eat me or not. Not like it could. I could just teleport away. But there was something familiar about it, so I couldn't just leave it. I decided to reach my powers into this monster's mind to see if I could find something.

I looked inside, wondering what I'd end up finding. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It seemed like the mind was ripped in two. Both sides were very confused, but one side seemed to feel like a stranger while the other knew where she was and was trying to get out. They both were also struggling to control the body, like they were fighting over it or something. And neither of them were very aware of what was happening.

I looked in the stranger and found the mind of someone who had seen death and was upset at being resurrected. And then, when I looked in the other one, I saw a scared human girl trying to figure out what was going on. I realized then that she was what I'd been looking for this whole time.

"Miss Moira!!!" I called, hoping to somehow reach her. It just made the monster mad, because she roared loudly, turned around, and punched a hole in the wall. Then she kept punching and making the hole bigger and bigger until it was big enough and she jumped through it. Then I realized that the hole opened up to the outside, and we were still about fifty floors over the plate.

"Oh no! Miss Moira!" I screamed as I followed out the hole, and I followed her down in her fall. And to my horror we were also over what was left of Sector Seven, the sector of the plate that fell to the ground, which adds even more distance to the fall. I wished I could've slowed down her fall, but my powers were limited to reading minds and teleporting, so I was helpless.

I could only watch as she fell, hoping that the creature had enough strength to endure the fall. Then it landed on one of the huge steal beams that used to be part of the main pillar that held up the Sector Seven Plate. She looked roughed up, but not seriously hurt.

"Whew!" I sighed in relief, "That was close, kupo, but what's she doing now?"

She started running around the sector, tearing up things that used to be buildings, houses, and anything else she saw in her path.

There were lots of human bodies scattered all over the sector, some of which weren't even whole bodies. Sector Seven wasn't a pretty sight. It didn't seem like anything alive would ever dream of going near this place, but this huge creature was tearing through it like she didn't even notice the disturbing sight of the place. Any bodies she'd find in front of her she'd pick up and toss away like dollies.

I was afraid to go near her because I wasn't sure what would happen if I were to talk to her again. I was worried that if she recognized me, she might go even more crazy and end up hurting herself. So I helplessly watched as she tore through everything.

After a long while, she suddenly stopped her rampaging. She was looking down at something that was right in front of her. Her ears twitched around as she looked at it.

"What is she looking at?" I wondered and flew closer to get a better look. I saw that she was looking at a body. As I flew closer, I noticed that the body was still moving. He was crawling around on the ground, like he didn't know where he was or where he was going.

"What? A survivor?" I flew faster to see who this survivor was. But then I noticed that this person looked familiar. He was a young guy with really long and dark brown hair. His hair was messy and tangled, but it looked like it used to be in a braid. I gasped as I recognized who it was.

"It's Mr. Raven!" I thought as I slowed down, almost reaching Miss Moira.

She looked down at him, she looked like she was trying to figure out where she's seen him before. Then her face went stern and her ears lowered. She reached out her hand and gently picked him up.

"Rrrr…" She growled, "Rrraven."

I flew close enough for her to be able to see me.

"That's right, Miss Moira. It's Mr. Raven. You remember me, kupo?"

She looked at me, and all of a sudden she wasn't so scary. I guess finding Mr. Raven helped her calm down.

"Biiibble?" she growled. I was happy because then I was positive that she was gonna be ok.

"Ya, kupo," I answered, "Bibble. Don't worry, Miss Moira. Everything will be ok, kupo. But we have to get out of here first."

Then I flew off trying to find a way for her to get out. I could easily teleport out, but she was a large creature, and teleporting both her and Mr. Raven would be straining. If she was normal size, it wouldn't have been a problem. But since she was still way too big, I had to help find her an exit.

Then I heard a really loud snap far behind me. I looked back and saw some big piece of machinery falling from high up. It looked like it was on a machine that was still functional because it was sparking as it fell. Then I looked where it was gonna land, and I saw Miss Moira starting to look up as it fell towards her.

"Miss Moira! Look out, kupo!" I tried to rush over to save her, but I couldn't get there fast enough. The chunk of machine hit her right in the face as she barely noticed what was coming. She fell down and got knocked unconscious.

"Oh, no!" I got over to her, but there was nothing I could do. She was just laying there, unconscious with Mr. Raven right next to her.

"Oh, what am I gonna do, kupo?" I flew in fast and tiny circles in my panic, trying to figure out how to get her and Mr. Raven to a safe place. Then I noticed something was happening.

"Huh?" I said as I looked at Miss Moira, "She's shrinking."

She was changing shape. It looked like she was changing back to normal. But then her transformation stopped at a point. She was her regular size and shape, but she still had the look of the huge creature she was a while ago.

"Weird, kupo," I thought, "But now at least I can move these two to safety. But where to take them…?"

I searched through both their minds and found the perfect spot.

"Got it!"

I took both their hands and teleported them far away from Midgar. 

********        ********        ********

[Moira]

I woke up with a splitting headache. I tried to remember what happened the last time I was awake, but nothing came up. It only succeeded in making my headache worse. I squeezed my eyes shut, wincing from the severe pain.

"Miss Moira?" called a small, familiar voice, "Are you ok, kupo?"

"Huh?" I grumbled, trying to figure out who was talking to me.

"Miss Moira, it's me! Open your eyes, kupo!"

I opened my eyes and saw a blurred image for a moment. When my eyes finally focused after a few long moments, I saw a familiar-looking moogle in front of me with a worried look on her face.

"Ugh…" I groaned, propping my upper body up on my elbows, still sort of laying down. "Bibble? Is that you?"

"Miss Moira! You're ok, kupo!" She flew up and hugged me, like she was excited that I was alive.

"Bibble, please get off me."

She got off and clapped her little moogle hands in excitement. She did a few twirls and flips in the air before she would look at me again.

"So, are you feeling ok now?" She asked.

"Ya, except for this headache," I said rubbing my head, "And I had the weirdest dream."

"That you were taken to a secret lab and turned into some monster that ended up rampaging all around Midgar?"

"I don't remember any rampaging, but that's the basic summary of it."

"Hang on a sec, kupo." Then she flew off and I got a chance to look at my surroundings. It looked like I was inside of one of the stalls in a chocobo stable. There was a solid wall behind me, wooden walls on either side of me, which were walls to other stalls, and in front of me was the door to the stall. I was laying on a pile of soft hay.

"What?" I wondered out loud, "Why am I in a chocobo stable?"

Then Bibble came back carrying a mirror.

"What's with the mirror?" I asked.

"Get ready for a shock, kupo." Then she flipped the mirror around so I could see my own reflection.

"AH!!!" I yelped in shock, "Please tell me that's not my reflection."

"Sorry, but it is, kupo," she answered.

"Then it wasn't a dream…" I realized out loud. "Everyone warned me, but I refused to hear it. So I guess I brought this upon myself. Good Lord! Look at these ears!"

I felt around my huge cat ears. They were at least five times the size of regular human ears. I also noticed that I was covered in fur. My nose had turned pink and my hair wasn't as straight and pulled down as before. I then looked down at my hands, which had become more bulky. My palms and fingers were thicker than usual, and I had claws on each of my fingers.

"This will take some getting used to," I said out loud. "This will take a _lot _of getting used to."

"That's ok, Miss Moira," Bibble responded, "We still love you, kupo."

"We?" I wondered out loud.

"That's right, we," answered a familiar old voice from out of sight. It was a voice I hadn't heard in over two years, but I remembered it like I'd only heard it yesterday.

"Will?" I got up on my knees and peeked over the door, and sure enough, there was Will, walking into the stable. He walked up to the stall I was in.

"Welcome home, Moira," Will said. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yes, it has," I answered.

"And quite a different look ya have there."

"Um, ya. You're not freaked by it?"

"I'll admit that it frightened me at first, but now that I look at it, it's not all that bad."

"I don't like it all that much. But that's mostly because it was forced upon me."

"Hey, look on the bright side. Cats have really good agility. Maybe you could incorporate that in your battles."

That's when I remembered that something was missing.

"Hey, wait a minute. Where's my scythe?"

"Um, it's still in Midgar, kupo," Bibble spoke up, "You lost it when Hojo captured you."

"Geez, that's just great!" I groaned.

"That's just awful," Will said, "And after all those years you were saving up for that scythe, too."

"Ya well," Then I decided to change the subject, "Hey, how are my parents doing?"

"Oh they've been fine," Will answered, "They miss ya like heck, but that's just what parents do. I didn't let them know you were here because I wasn't sure how they'd react to your new look."

"It's ok. I think it'd be better if they don't see me like this."

"But Miss Moira, don't you wanna see your mom and dad, kupo? You haven't seen them in over two years."

"Of course I do, Bibble, but I don't want them to see their daughter as a freak of nature."

"That and you don't want to tell them that you've been lying to them in your letters," she added.

"You know, if you would stop prying into my mind, things would be so much more pleasant for me."

I got up on my feet, stumbling a bit. Then I noticed that I was a few inches taller. I looked down and discovered that it was because my feet had grown larger and were nowhere near human anymore. They looked more like the hind feet…or rather paws, of some animal. I took a moment to find my footing.

"Doesn't look like I'll be needing shoes anymore," I said, still staring at my feet and finding my footing.

"Well, it's good to know yer still in somewhat good spirits, Moira," Will said, "Considering all the hell you've been through."

"What?" I was confused, "But how--?"

"Yer little moogle friend told me all about it," he answered before I could finish my question.

"I had to bring you somewhere safe and far away from Midgar, kupo," Bibble answered. "I remembered seeing Kalm in your mind, kupo, and that Will was one of your best friends here."

"I hafta admit, when she showed up in my stable with you in tow, I thought I was hallucinatin', seeing as though moogles are said to be nonexistent. And then when she told me what happened to you in Midgar, I was a little skeptical, but then I recognized yer pretty face under all that fur. So I put ya in one o' the chocobo stalls to rest until ya woke up. And besides, in all the stories I've heard, moogles are said to be happy, fun-lovin' creatures who only like to do good, so it wasn't too hard to believe her story."

"I'll be right back, kupo," Bibble announced as she rushed out of the stables.

"Ok bye," I answered.

I looked around the familiar scenery of the chocobo stable, but found that all the stalls were empty.

"What happened to all the chocobos?" I wondered.

"I released 'em," Will answered, "One by one, I released 'em all. Jamie was just the first. I was thinkin' of sellin' the stables and moving to my nephew's ranch. He says that one of his clients bred several different colored chocobos in his ranch, including a gold one. So I wanna go over there and see it for myself."

"I see," I replied, "So, how did Bibble get me here? I highly doubt she could carry me all the way from Midgar."

"No, she teleported ya over here," he answered, "She brought you here after it was safe to go near you."

"Safe to go near me?"

"Ya, she said that after you broke out of the lab, you were changed into some huge cat monster and was on a furious rampage. You broke through a good portion of the Shinra Tower and busted out the wall and into the sector that was already destroyed. And then after landing you continued rampaging until you were knocked unconscious when a large object hitcha over the head, and then you turned back into what you are now."

"I don't remember any of that," I said, "I guess that would explain my headache. Everything after being inside the tank in the lab is a blur."

"Well, then I guess you probably don't remember pickin' up a young man before passing out?"

"A young man?"

"Yup, a guy with long braided hair was brought along with you."

"Raven?!" I yelped in surprise, "Where is he? Is he ok? What happened to him?"

"Woah-Woah-Woah-Woah-Woah!!! Slow down! I can only handle so many questions at a time."

"I'm sorry, Will. I'm just so worried. I left him in Hojo's hands before…"

"I know," he said with a nod, "Ya did what you thought was right."

"Ya, only to find out too late that it was a huge mistake," I retorted.

"So leaving him alone in your apartment wondering if you'll ever come home would've been a better idea?"

"He wouldn't have gotten into Hojo's slimy grasp that way. While I was in that tank, I wondered what Hojo might've done to him."

"Well apparently, all he did was let him loose to wander Midgar."

"Well, that's good. At least Hojo didn't harm him even more."

A long moment of silence passed.

"So where is he now?" I asked, breaking the silence.

"Who? Hojo or the boy?"

"Will!" Him playing absent-minded didn't amuse me.

"Oh alright. We had him resting in my living room, but then when we had our backs turned, he up and disappeared."

"What?!" I blurted, "You mean to tell me that he's out in the wild all by himself?!"

"I never said he was in the wild," he answered, "I merely said that he disappeared. That's where Bibble went just now, to go look for 'im."

"Wait," I said as a thought hit me, "You kept him in your living room?"

"Yup. Snug as a bug in my couch."

"Then why did _I_ have to be kept in the stables?" I asked.

"Safety reasons," he answered, "Don't get me wrong, Moira. I love ya to death, but if you were to transform into that huge monster thing in my house, you'd leave me homeless. Now here, I was plannin' on getting rid of this place anyway, so if you change and destroy this place it ain't such a big deal."

"That's not making me feel any better, Will," I grumbled.

"I'm just bein' honest here."

"Ya, I know," I sighed. "I just wish I could figure out what's going on with me."

"The answers will come eventually," He tried to comfort me, "In the meantime, ya just gotta go with it."

"Just go with turning into a giant out-of-control monster. Right. How can I figure out how something works if I don't even know when it happens. I don't remember ever transforming. I only remember being captured, being held in the lab in a tank, and after that I remember waking up in a chocobo stable. I don't see how I can get to it if I don't know why it happens. I might as well just sit in a cave in the middle of nowhere until the end of time so I won't have to worry about getting it under control."

"You won't get it under control with _that _kind of attitude," he spat, "The Moira I knew never gave up when it came to something that she thought needed done."

"Heh. Well, ok then, I'll just have to eventually figure this out," I chuckled.

"Now that's better."

"Thank you, Will."

"No problem."

Then Bibble came flying back with a happy look as she came.

"Ya found 'im?" Will asked.

"Yup, I found him, kupo!" She announced, "And I put him back in your living room."

"Alrighty then," Will opened the door to the stall I was standing in. "Let's go on over and see how he's doin', shall we?"

"Ok." I stepped out of the stall, and we started walking out of the stables.

Walking felt strange. I could tell it would take me a while to get used to these feet. It felt almost like walking on high-heeled shoes but without the shoes.

When I finally looked up away from my feet I noticed that the sky was jet black, and a huge bright red object was hovering. It looked like a moon, but a hundred times bigger and red. It also looked like it was on fire.

"What the hell is _that_?!" I screamed as I stopped and stared at the giant fireball in the sky.

"Oh, that's Meteor," Will answered with a worried tone in his voice.

"Meteor?" I replied skeptically, "The legendary magic summon spell that's supposed to destroy the world?"

"Ya, that's the one," he answered. "Bibble says that some guy named Sephiroth summoned it using the legendary Black Materia."

"So it does exist?" I pondered, "So this thing's gonna destroy the world sometime soon?"

"That's what the legends and stories all say," Will said, "but Bibble here seems to think otherwise."

"I keep telling you Miss Aeris will save us, kupo," Bibble whined.

"Wait, wasn't Aeris the girl that was in the prison cell by Hojo's lab?" I asked.

"Well, yes," Bibble answered, "But she's gonna save the world using her white materia, kupo. She's gonna summon Holy and stop Meteor from destroying the world."

"I don't know how you know all this, Bibble, and frankly I don't really want to know. Right now my only concern is Raven. So let's move on."

"Ok, kupo," We continued over to Will's house.

We didn't have to walk very far to get to Will's house. It was just around the corner from the chocobo stable. It was inside the town wall, but it was still isolated from the rest of the town. It looked like a simple one-story house. When we got there, Will stopped for a moment and turned around to look at me.

"Moira, yer not mad at me, are ya?"

"For what, Will?"

"Fer keepin' you in the barn and him in here?"

"Don't worry about it, Will. I'm over it. I probably would've done the same in your shoes."

"That's good to know." Then he turned around and opened the door.

We went through the front door, which opened directly into the living room. The living room took the space in front and to the right of the front door. There was a wall a few feet to the left that went on into the hallway that lead further back into the house. There were a few doors on that wall, but I couldn't guess where they led. The back wall of the living room was actually a counter that started at the wall on the far right and ended at the hallway to the left. On the other side of the counter was the kitchen.

I looked in the living room and found Raven lying quietly on the couch that was set by the front-side wall.

"Raven," I cried, rushing over to the couch. I knelt down next to him and got a better look at him.

His face just looked blank. It seemed like he was awake but not really aware of what was going on around him. His eyes didn't look like they were focused on anything at all, and the color kept flashing from the glowing green to a deep blue and back to glowing.

I felt my cat-like ears lower down as I felt a pain well up in my chest and tears in my eyes. I couldn't stand seeing Raven like that. I took his hand and held it.

"Raven," I sobbed, holding his hand to my face. "I'm so sorry."

"Miss Moira?" Bibble softly said as she floated up behind me, Will following close behind. "Are you ok?"

"Tell me, Bibble," I said between sobs, keeping my gaze at Raven, "What's going on in his head right now?"

She floated down to where she was hovering over Raven's face.

"It's hard to make out, kupo," she started, "There's lots of different voices in there, all saying the same thing. Lots of 'Jenova' and 'reunion' and some other things I can't make out, kupo."

"And where is he?" I looked up at Bibble. "His own conscious thoughts must be in there somewhere."

"They are, kupo. I just can't find them."

"J...Jenova," Raven whispered faintly. "Re...union..."

I felt his hand grab a hold of mine as I held it. My ears perked up as I looked back down at him. His eyes glowed green and still looked unfocused, but it looked like he was trying to see.

"He's been sayin' that the whole time he's been here," Will spoke up, There were a couple o' times he'd call your name, Moira, but they were very few."

"I think I found him, kupo," Bibble announced, "He's trying to push forward, but the voices keep pushing him back. He knows you're there, and he's trying to reach you. He wants to see you and hear you, kupo, but the voices won't let him."

"Moira..." Raven whispered as his grip on my hand tightened.

"Raven?" I moved closer to him to try to reach him, "Can you hear me?"

"He hears your voice, kupo, but he can't make out what you're saying. So he's trying harder to fight forward."

"Come on, Raven," I tried to encourage him as he lay there.

"Moira..." He called softly. His face started to look stressed. His eyes had started twitching and his nose was scrunching. His other hand reached up and grabbed mine.

"I'm here, Raven. I'm here," I called back.

"I think he might make it through, kupo." Bibble announced, "He's pushing through."

Raven turned his head in my direction, as if trying to look at me. His eyes looked like they were trying to focus while their color kept changing back and forth from deep blue to glowing green. He lifted his hand from my grasp and raised it to my face.

"AAHHHH!!!!" He screamed as he suddenly sat up, clutching his head in pain. Bibble reacted the same way. I jumped back, terrified at the sudden loud screaming.

"AH!" She flew back a few feet holding her head with her tiny hands.

"Raven!" I cried after I'd fallen backward from suddenly being scared half to death. I scrambled back to his side, kneeling next to the couch.

When he stopped screaming, he slowly put his hands down. That's when I saw that his eyes were actually focusing. He looked amazed, like he'd just seen the outside world for the very first time.

"Raven?" I called, wondering if he was going to recognize me.

He looked down at me, eyes wide with amazement.

"…Moira?" He answered, not sure that it was actually me. I nodded.

"Yes, It's me," I answered back, "Are you alright?"

"Is that really you?" He leaned closer, lifting his hand up, reaching for my face. He looked utterly shocked. His eyes shifted around my face, like he was examining me or something.

"Yes," I answered uneasily, "I know I look different, but it's still me."

He rested his hand on my cheek and rubbed my cheek with his thumb. I reached up and touched his hand.

"It is you…" He said softly, "What the hell did he do to you?"

"I don't want to talk about Hojo right now," I answered, "How do you feel?"

"Tired," His face relaxed at that moment. He closed his eyes and lowered his head, expressing that he was tired. He lifted his head back up and lowered his hand from my face. He laid back down on the couch.

"I think we should just leave you two alone now, kupo," Bibble spoke up.

"Yes, we'll just be in the next room over if ya need us, alright?" Will continued.

"Alright," I answered as they went off into the next room over.

"Who are they?" Raven asked, raising his head a bit.

"They're just friends of mine."

"Hmm…" He said, putting his head back down on the couch.

"Ooh, my head," He moaned.

"Do you need anything?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm just tired is all." He then looked at me and smiled. Seeing his tender look made me happy.

"It's amazing," he started.

"What's amazing?" I asked.

"Even after all that bastard's done to you, you're still so beautiful."

I lowered my head onto the couch, laying it close to him, lowering my ears as I went. He placed his hand on my head.

"I love you, Moira," he whispered, rubbing my hair with his fingers.

"I love you, too, Raven," I whispered back, drifting into comfort as he rubbed my head.

After a moment I found myself making a strange sound, like a very soft low growl, but not angry.

"Heh, you're purring," Raven laughed.

"So I am," I answered and continued.

And then he suddenly stopped petting me. I stopped purring and looked up for a moment, wondering what had happened and worried that it was something bad. He was completely motionless, which worried me. Then I saw that he was breathing, so I knew he wasn't dead, which was a huge relief for me. So I put my head back down and relaxed as I drifted into a peaceful sleep. 

********        ********        ********

[Bibble's P.O.V.]

Miss Moira and Mr. Raven looked so cute together, I just had to watch them from the room across the hall. Will was right there, watching along with me.

"It's nice that Moira has someone to love who loves her back," Will said softly, "She was always such a lonely girl."

"And it got worse after she went to Midgar, kupo."

"Ya, I didn't figure that she was leadin' a very exciting life in Midgar."

"And she didn't have any friends, kupo. That's why I decided to start appearing for her. Because she was so lonely. I knew she didn't like me showing up when I did, but I felt like I had to make sure she didn't go insane from all the loneliness."

"Makes sense."

After a long moment, Will looked up at me with an eyebrow raised.

"So what was it that made 'im stop mumblin' 'Jenova' all of a sudden?"

"Huh?"

"Oh, come on! I highly doubt he actually managed to break up all the noise in his head all by himself."

"Well, you're right, kupo," I admitted.

"So what did it?" He asked impatiently.

"Jenova died, kupo," I answered, "So all of her cells died with her."

"So everything should be ok now, right?"

"I hope so, kupo."

[Moira]

All I could see all around me was pitch black. It seemed like I was floating through darkness. I tried to figure out exactly where I was, except I wasn't even standing in anything that resembled a real place. There was dark above me, below me, in front and behind, and to the sides. I looked down at my hands, and then at my feet, and they looked human.

"Is this a dream?" I thought to myself. "It feels like I'm actually here."

"It might be a dream," answered a voice from what seemed like everywhere. "After all, you are physically asleep."

"Who said that?" I 

"I did," it said.

"And who are you?"

"I am someone who is trapped deep in the back of your mind. I was disturbed from my eternal slumber only to be thrown into someone else's mental torment. I have been lost in here for several weeks now."

"Weeks?" I though about that for a moment, "You mean you've been in my head since…?"

"Yes, ever since that madman took my essence, my power, and my soul out of my peaceful resting place and infused it into your DNA. The end product is what you look like now."

At that moment, a large figure appeared in front of me. She looked like an enormous cat walking on its hind legs. She was larger than any creature I'd ever seen. When she stopped in front of me, I found that as far as height was concerned, I only went up to her waist. She had human-looking arms and human-looking hair. Her hair was long, poofy, and somewhat spiky. She was a brownish-golden color, while her hair was a reddish brown color. She had a long tail that split into three at the end, each end with either a symbol of ice, fire, or lightning. She sat down so we could speak face to face.

"So, you are Moira," she said.

"Yes," I answered uneasily, "But I still don't know who you are. And how do you know my name?"

"My name is Hikorai," she answered, "I am an esper, or rather I _was _an esper."

"What do you mean by 'was an esper'?"

"I am not supposed to be among the living, for I have died and become magecite."

"Magecite? You mean the green stone Hojo had in his hand?"

"That was my magecite. He sucked it dry of every drop of the essence that was inside of it. He extracted everything that makes up who I am and squeezed it into you. So here I am, trapped in an unfamiliar place, in an unfamiliar in time, and in an unfamiliar body. I awoke in a laboratory, broke out of the tank, and saw a file on the experiment. That is when I learned about you, and what had happened to us."

"And that transformation that Will was talking about… Did that really happen?"

"Yes. It is a slightly altered version of my true form. It happened when your mind attempted to gain control over the body. The clash of two conscious minds in the same body triggered an insane reaction, resulting in the mindless rampage."

"Why don't I remember it?"

"That I do not know, for my memory of the incident faded out soon after the rampage began."

We sat there for a moment, not really saying anything. We stared at each other for most of it. She was hunched over, arms resting on her crossed legs.

"You look tired," I pointed out.

"I am tired," she answered, "I was rudely awakened from death. I was meant to spend the rest of eternity resting peacefully in my magecite-form. And now who knows if I'll ever be able to."

"Ya, leave it to Hojo to wake up the dead and make the living absolutely miserable."

"I don't want to be a burden to you.  Understand that this is your body, and that I don't have any right to live in it. I will try to stay as far back as possible, so as not to cause any trouble. I do not wish to repeat the chaos that happened before."

"I know it wasn't your fault. I'll try and see if I can help you get back to your resting place. I'll somehow find your magecite again, and I'll somehow find a way to get you back into it."

"Is that possible?"

"I'm pretty sure it is. I just don't know how yet, but when I do, I'll help you go back to your afterlife."

"I appreciate that." Then she stood up on all fours. She turned around and started to walk away.

"Wait!" I called to her, "Where are you going?"

"Back to waiting," she answered, still walking away, fading into the darkness.

"Will we get to talk to each other again?"

"Perhaps." She disappeared completely, and I was alone again.

"Until next time then," I said.

Then a huge bright light started shining in front of me. It got brighter and brighter until the white light filled everything. Then I opened my eyes and found myself back in Will's living room, kneeling next to the couch, with Raven still peacefully sleeping on it. I looked down at my hand, looking at the golden fur that covered it.

"And I thought my situation was sad," I thought to myself. "Poor Hikorai."

"Who's Hikorai?" Bibble asked as she flew into the room and in front of my face.

"What did I tell you about prying into my mind?" I asked, frustrated.

"I'm sorry, kupo. I couldn't help it. I rushed here so I could tell you something."

"What is it?"

"Meteor's almost here, kupo. And I wanna watch it when it comes down."

"You want a front seat view of our planet's destruction, eh?" I chuckled.

"Very funny, Miss Moira."

"So, seriously, why are you telling me this?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to watch it with me."

I looked over at Raven, who was still sleeping. I didn't really want to leave his side, especially with the mental hell he just went through.

"Mr. Raven will be fine, kupo," she assured me, "The Jenova cells are dead now, so the voices are all gone. All he needs is rest."

"They're dead? How did that happen?"

"Jenova died, so her cells died with her."

"Are you sure, Bibble?"

"Trust me, kupo, I know. Besides, if anything get crazy with Mr. Raven, Will's still here to take care of him. So, will you come with me to watch Meteor?"

I stared at Raven for a moment. He was on his back, with his right foot lying on the arm of the couch and his left foot lying down on the cushion beside the arm. His right arm was on his chest, and his left arm was dangling off the edge of the couch. His head was on a pillow that was set leaning on the couch arm. His long braid hung off the edge of the couch with the very end of it lying on the floor.

"Ok, Bibble," I said finally, "I'll go with you."

"Kupo!" She flipped as she said that. "Let's go over behind the house, kupo. Will's waiting."

"Sure," I got up off the floor and followed Bibble through the hallway and to the back door of the house.

"So, ya ready to go?" Will asked, rubbing his hands together.

"Where exactly are we going?" I asked.

"We're heading over to the Midgar area, kupo," Bibble answered.

"Midgar?" I spat back, "Why Midgar?"

"'Cuz that's where Meteor's going, kupo."

"How do you _know _all this?"

"Um... No reason..." There was an uneasy pause, "Can we go now?"

"How are we going to get from here to there?"

"Well, come 'ere, and I'll show ya," Will said turning around and walking off.

We followed until we got to a doorway on the side of the house with a door that only went up halfway. It looked like a stall in a chocobo stable.

When we got closer, a loud "wark" came out of the stall.

"A chocobo?" I wonder in thought. "I thought he said he got rid of all of them."

Will went up in front of the stall and looked inside.

"Hey, Jester," he greeted, "How's it goin'?"

"Wark!" squawked the chocobo in the stall as it popped its black, feathery head out of the stall and nuzzled Will.

"Black?!" I wondered out loud.

"Yup, bred this guy myself," Will answered, petting the black chocobo on the head. "His name is Jester."

I walked up to him and petted him on the head. He "warked" happily.

"Heh, I'm surprised he isn't freaked out by my appearance."

"Captive Chocobos can usually sense whether or not someone's a good person. It's the wild ones that don't trust anybody."

"Yup, and they don't really care what you look like, kupo. If they like you, they let you ride them."

"So we're taking this chocobo to Midgar?" I asked skeptically, "That'll take hours upon hours."

"That's where yer wrong, Moira," Will said shaking his pointer finger. "Jester here is more than twice as fast as yer average chocobo. I would know, I clocked 'im myself and compared it to the top speeds of all the other chocobos I had at the time."

"Ya, kupo, so the trip will only take a few hours, as opposed to the overnight flight that you did with Jamie."

"And besides," Will continued, "Yer only getting close enough to Midgar to get a good look at it."

"Alright then," I decided not to argue, "Let's get going then."

Will took Jester out of his little stable and saddled him up. I climbed up onto his back. It felt strange sitting on the back of a chocobo again. It didn't help that this one was an unusual color, but then I remember that the last chocobo I'd ridden before that was Jamie.

"This feels weird," I spoke up.

"Not used to a black chocobo, eh?" Will guessed.

"She misses Jamie, kupo," Bibble said.

"Ya," I replied, ignoring the fact that she pried into my mind, "After Jamie and I parted in Midgar I never got on another chocobo, though it was mostly because chocobos in Midgar were all either pulling carriages for Shinra or growing up in breeding farms."

"Well, I can assure you that Jester here will take good care of ya. And while yer out watchin' Meteor, I'll be watchin' yer boyfriend for ya."

"Heh, thanks Will."

"Not a problem."

"Well, let's go," Bibble rushed, bouncing around in the air.

"Ok, fine," I groaned as I started off on the chocobo, "Later, Will!"

"See ya later!" He called back, "Tell me all about it when ya get back!"

I rode off with Bibble flying slightly in front and to the right of me. Once again, I was on my way to Midgar.


	10. Ch 8: Souls In Turmoil

Chapter VIII 

**Souls In Turmoil**

I had to admit that Jester was much faster than I thought. Within just a few hours, Midgar came into sight on the horizon. Meteor was still several hundred miles in the sky, but it already looked like it could swallow Midgar whole.

"That thing's huge," I pointed out.

"Well, whaddaya expect, kupo? Meteor's legend says it's supposed to destroy the world."

"I know that, but I didn't expect it to be so incredibly huge."

Then I noticed something different about Midgar.

"Is that a…" I wondered out loud, "A cannon?"

There was a gigantic cannon mounted on top of the city. It was so long that one end of it was at the center of Midgar, while the other end stuck out of the city for several hundred feet. The width of the cannon's barrel looked like you could fit a good-sized house inside of it and still have plenty of room to spare.

"That's the Sister Ray, kupo," Bibble explained.

"The Sister Ray?" I asked skeptically, "But that looks like the cannon in Junon, the Shinra military port town."

"Yes, kupo. That's the same cannon, but President Rufus took it from Junon and installed it into Midgar and powered it with all the mako reactors. He named it the Sister Ray after putting it here."

"Wait, _President _Rufus? What happened to his dad?"

"He got assassinated soon after you were captured. Sephiroth killed him and took Jenova from Hojo's lab."

"Guess Sephiroth really didn't like Shinra. So why'd Rufus put Junon's famous cannon on Midgar?"

"He wanted to try to help stop Sephiroth from destroying the world, kupo. He failed miserably, shot it at a giant monster, and he and the monster ended up killing each other."

"Sweet, so Shinra's completely gone."

"Yup."

"Well, I guess Sephiroth must've _really _hated the Shinra, because Meteor's still heading for Midgar and coming in fast."

"Ya, kupo," she said looking up at Meteor, "Any second now."

When we got to a point we thought was a safe distance from Midgar, we stopped and I got off Jester and looked up at the giant fireball.

We all watched Meteor as it came blazing through the atmosphere. It kept getting bigger and bigger as it fell closer and closer. It didn't look like it was going to stop falling, so I braced myself for whatever came next. Then all of a sudden, the ground started shaking.

I fell onto my hands and knees. The ground was shaking so violently that I even struggled keeping myself up on my hands and knees. When the ground finally stopped shaking, I looked up and saw that Meteor had stopped falling but it hadn't hit the ground.

It was amazing. Meteor looked like it could eat twenty Midgars and still be hungry. It literally hovered directly above Midgar about a hundred feet up. I could see what looked like dozens of huge, red tornadoes that reached from Meteor to the ground, swirling around and tearing through Midgar. I could see small, dark specks flying through the air around the tornadoes. I soon recognized the specks as debris, pieces of Midgar being ripped up and tossed around. I looked back up at Meteor.

"What's holding it up?" I wondered out loud.

"I'm not really sure, kupo," Bibble answered.

I looked up and noticed an airship flying overhead. It looked more like an oversized airplane with large jets attached to its butt and its wings.

"What's an airship doing flying over Midgar?"

"That's the Highwind, kupo."

"Wasn't that one of Shinra's airships?"

"Yes, but then Mr. Cid got control of it, kupo, and now he's the captain."

"So now he's flying the airship over Midgar."

"The people in that airship just defeated Sephiroth, kupo, not long after killing off Jenova. So now they're gonna see whether or not their effort was worth the battle."

"Woah! They killed Jenova?! I guess I owe 'em my thanks for freeing Raven from his insanity."

"Yes, kupo, so we won't be the only ones watching this."

We watched as Meteor and its tornadoes ripped up most of Midgar. After a while, I spotted a bright blue light shining on the northern horizon. The light grew larger and brighter. Then as it came closer, I could see that it was actually a huge beam of magical energy, rushing from the north to stop Meteor. The beam hit at the bottom of Meteor and then spread itself flat across the sky around Meteor.

"Holy crap!" I spoke up.

"No, just Holy," Bibble replied.

"That is the spell called Holy?"

"Ya, kupo."

At first it seemed like Holy was going to stop Meteor, but then Meteor started boring through the sheet of Holy magic.

"If this is supposed to save the world, then why isn't it working?" I started to panic. "Meteor's cutting through it like a hot knife through butter."

"I don't know, kupo, it's supposed to work."

"Wait a sec, what's that?" I pointed off in the distance.

There was a small glowing green speck on the ground close to Midgar. The green speck then sprouted upward, reaching higher and higher, looking like a huge ribbon of green energy. Then more of these green ribbons appeared around Midgar, reaching up to Meteor. I soon noticed that the entire sky was lined with these streams of green magic.

"What's all that?"

"Yay! The Lifestream is helping, kupo!"

"The Lifestream? THAT'S the Lifestream?"

"Ya, kupo!"

More and more streams of Lifestream came to Meteor, until all you could see in the sky was green. It was like a bad storm with which the clouds went on as far as the eye could see, except it was green, and it illuminated everything in its cool glow.

While this was going on, it swirled around the base of Meteor, ripping it to pieces as it went. It also continued in the damage Meteor was doing to Midgar, but only because Midgar was in directly underneath the clash between Meteor and the Lifestream.

It got to the point where the green light was blindingly bright. I had to shut and cover my eyes for a moment while the light shined and then faded off.

I looked up again and saw that Meteor was completely gone, as well as Holy and the Lifestream. Everything looked perfectly normal again, with the exception that Midgar was now a pile of wreckage.

"Woah," I said.

"Wasn't it amazing, kupo?" Bibble asked.

I could only sit there and gape in amazement to what I had just seen.

"I've just witnessed what could've been the end of the world."

"Yes, kupo, yes you did."

I looked up at her, but she didn't seem as amazed as I was about it. It was as if she truly did know that the world was not going to end.

I sat there for a few moments pondering how she could've possibly known that Meteor wasn't going to destroy the world. I got up off the ground, brushed the grass off my pants and walked over to Jester. I then dismissed that last thought and decided that it was time to leave.

"I think we should go home now," I announced.

"Ya, kupo. We have to tell Will what happened."

"He probably saw the whole thing from his window."

"That may be true, kupo, but we got the front-seat view."

"Ya, you're right."

I got back onto Jester's back and we started going home. We then saw the airship Highwind fly above our heads and fly off ahead of us. I noticed that it was going in the same direction we were going..

"I wonder if it's going to Kalm."

"One way to find out, kupo." We quickened the pace and went back to Kalm.

When we got there, the airship was parked just outside of town.

"Kupo! They landed here in Kalm."

"Did you know this was going to happen?"

"Yup."

"So you can see into the future, too?"

"No, kupo. I'm a mind reader, not a fortune teller."

"Then how'd you know all the stuff you told me about Meteor?"

"From reading the minds of the people in the airship and reading Miss Aeris's mind when I got the chance to see her."

"But how did you know when Jenova died?"

"The voices were all screaming in dying pain, kupo. That was the reason Mr. Raven screamed the way he did. The cells all died, and the only way they could die was if Jenova herself died. They don't even die when their human host dies. Jenova has to be dead before her cells can die."

"Ok, point made. Dead Jenova equals dead cells." We got to Will's house and I got off Jester's back. Will wasn't there to welcome us, but I assumed he was either inside the house or out in front looking at the airship. I put Jester back in his little stable in the back of the house and decided to go around and look at the airship. Bibble instead went into the back door and into the house.

When I got to the town square, I saw a small girl running from one of the neighbor's houses.

"Papa!" she called still running. Then I looked over at the man she was running toward. He was a very large and dark-skinned man with a gatling gun for a hand.

"Wait…" I remembered, "He's the big guy that ran past me with two other people when I last guarded the President's meeting room."

"Marlene!" He called back as he knelt down to receive his little girl. He lifted her up as they met and he placed her on his big muscular shoulder. The little girl, Marlene, hugged her daddy's head. They didn't look related at all. The young girl's skin was very pale in color, while her daddy was very dark-skinned. I then came to the conclusion that he may have adopted her.

"Papa! Papa!" Marlene started, "Did you see the Meteor?"

"I sure did," he answered. "Were you a good girl while I was gone?"

"Yes, Papa! I was really good."

Then a group of people gathered around the man and the little girl. Two of them I recognized as the large man's accomplices that also ran past me. Another I recognized as Nanaki, the large doggish cat creature from Hojo's lab.

There were a few others, but I'd never seen them before. One was a small-figured hyper-looking girl with short hair and even shorter shorts. Another was a tall, dark-looking guy wearing mostly red and black. He had long, messy black hair, and he had a large golden claw on his left arm. One other was a middle-aged man. He wore pilot goggles on his head, so I assumed he was Captain Cid.

There was also a large pink creature with a black cat sitting on top of its head. I took a better look at it and saw that they were both animatronics. I then figured that someone was controlling that particular character remotely from someplace.

I then noticed a man in a blue suit walking out of the house the little girl ran out of. I looked closer and realized that the man was Reeve, the guy from the President's meeting. He joined with the group, and they all seemed to be so happy. They laughed and talked, and they seemed to have gone through a lot together.

"I wonder if I'll ever have an adventure like that?" I thought to myself, "And I wonder if I'll ever have a group of friends like that to have adventures with?"

"Papa?" Marlene spoke again.

"Marlene?" Her daddy answered.

"Can we go home now?"

"Ya, Marlene. We're goin' home. And we'll be goin' on this airship."

"Yay!"

I wanted to go say "hello" but I remembered my current appearance and decided against even going near them. So I turned around and went back to Will's house.

I went through the door and walked inside, then suddenly there was a moogle in my face.

"Ah! Miss Moira!" Bibble squealed in a quivering tone.

"Bibble, what's wrong?" I asked as Will came running up.

"Uh, nothin's wrong, Moira!" He quivered.

"Neither of you are fooling me," I was frustrated, "What's going on?"

"He's gone, kupo!" Bibble cried, "We can't find him anywhere!"

"What?!" I shrieked, knowing who she was referring to, "Will, how the hell did you lose him?! I thought he was resting here?"

"He was!" He started, "But when I had my back turned, he up and left again! I searched all over the place for 'im!"

"No!" I ran over to the couch where he was laying. I could still smell him. His scent was really faint, but it was still there on the couch.

"It couldn't have been too long ago," I said in frustration.

"Yer right," Will replied, "It happened just an hour ago."

"He went this way," his scent trailed off toward the front door. I followed it through the door and out to the town square. There I lost the scent completely in a jumble of many other scents.

"Dammit!" I yelled, agitated and scared. "Where the hell did he go?!"

I looked up and saw that the airship, as well as everyone from the airship that was gathered in the square, were gone.

"Why?!" I dropped to my knees. "Why would he just leave?!"

"Miss Moira?" Bibble floated up behind me.

"I don't understand it! Why would he do this?!"

I felt like my blood was pumping at a mile a second. It hurt me that Raven just up and left, but what hurt me more was that he left without a word of warning.

"Was it me? Is it _my _fault he left?" Then my head started hurting.

"Miss Moira!" Bibble cried in concern.

"Moira!" cried a voice in my head. "Calm down."

"No! No! He's gone! It's my fault he's gone!"

"Stop it, Moira." The voice said again, "Now, before someone gets hurt!"

"Leave me alone!"

I felt my body start to grow. I didn't understand what was happening, but I didn't care. I grew larger and stronger until I was taller than a one-story house. Then all of a sudden I didn't have any control over my own body. I opened my mouth, and a thick beam of blue light shot out of it, blasting the materia and weapons shops out of existence.

I roared and continued rampaging, but it wasn't me who was doing all this. My perception of things started blurring after a while, until all I could remember was the smell of burning wood and flesh and the vision of fire.

********        ********        ********

[Hikorai]

I awoke laying on the ground, on a patch of soft green grass… A very small patch of green grass, which was surrounded by dried or burnt grass. I stood up on my hind legs and looked around. The first thing I noticed was that I wasn't my usual size. I was human-sized.

I also found that I was at the center of what looked like a small human town, with the exception that all the buildings were annihilated. There was dust and ash floating around the air, and the smell of death was nauseatingly strong.

"Oh no," I gasped, realizing what had happened, "What have I done?"

"Miss Moira!" called a small voice from behind me. I turned around and saw a small moogle flying toward me. It was pink in color with darker pink wings and a blue pom-pom dangling over its head.

"What a strangely-colored moogle," I thought, since I remembered moogles being white in color with maroon-colored wings and red pom-poms. It approached me and stopped in front of my face.

"Miss Moira! Are you--" Then she paused for a moment, "Wait a minute, kupo, you're not Miss Moira."

"Indeed, I am not," I answered, "My name is Hikorai."

"Oh! So _you're _Hikorai," she said, "My name is Holly Bibble."

"Are you a friend of Moira's?"

"Yes, kupo," she answered, "Are you the esper that's stuck in Moira's body?"

"Yes I am," I answered. Then I looked again around the still-burning town. "I did not want this to happen."

"I know, kupo. It wasn't your fault."

"Yes it was. I pushed forward in Moira's mind when I told her that I would stay back. And so the body went into another rage of confusion. The transformation has exhausted her mind, so now she sleeps in the back while I have the controls in front."

"But you were trying to help, kupo."

"It does not help that I am not supposed to be alive. Especially not in somebody else's body. I wish I knew how to make this easier for Moira. Humans are such fragile creatures."

"Ya, kupo… I'm worried how she'll react when she sees her home town reduced to rubble and ashes."

"She will not see it."

"Whaddaya mean, kupo?"

"We will leave this place before she regains consciousness."

"Then what will we tell her?"

"You ask a lot of questions for one that can read minds."

"Your mind is difficult to read, kupo. Maybe it's because you're dead."

"Supposedly. We will tell her the truth."

"Ok, kupo, but if we're gonna leave, we should do it now."

"Agreed," I answered as I began walking, "You know this world better than I. Where shall we go?"

"I think we should go back to Midgar again, kupo. So we can try and find your Magecite."

"Midgar?" I thought for a moment, "You mean the mechanical city with the tall building at the center?"

"Yup, that's the one."

"But that city is enormous. How will we be able to find it?"

"You should be able to sense your own Magecite, kupo."

"But all the magic was drained from it. It is little more than an ordinary stone."

"I'm sure we'll be able to find it, kupo. Do you always give up so quickly?"

I stayed silent for a moment and thought to myself.

"I wish I knew the answer. It is true that I had a tendency to give up when things looked difficult and unfavorable, but that was in my early life, my youth. When I had grown older, I had learned to at least put an effort to make the situation favorable, and if I failed I would either try something else or just let it go. In my later life, I would never have just given up before trying anything. So why has this old habit sprung up again?"

"Old habits die hard, kupo," said the little moogle. "And besides, Miss Moira's considered pretty young in human years."

I looked up at her, almost surprised that she knew what I was thinking, but then I remembered that she had that ability.

"It's ok," she continued, "Miss Moira's gotten into that habit lately, too, kupo. I guess it just happens when people get into hopeless-looking situations."

"Perhaps you are right," I replied, "Let us go to Midgar."

"Ok, kupo."

We had already left the town by the time our conversation ended. It was dark and cloudy, but still early in the night. As I looked up at the sky and sniffed at the air, it seemed as if the weather was only going to worsen later on. We traveled to the southwest, because that was the general direction that Midgar was in from the town. After a few hours of walking, I began to feel a twinge in the back of my mind. I stopped walking for a moment to figure out what it could be.

"Is something wrong, kupo?" Holly asked in concern.

"I believe Moira might be regaining consciousness," I concluded.

"What should we do?" she asked.

"You are a mind reader, correct?"

"Yea, kupo."

"And that means that you can communicate with other people's thoughts. Is that right?"

"Technically, yes."

"So could it be possible to use your powers to allow my mind to communicate with Moira's without causing a disturbance to the body while it is awake?"

She floated there, staring at me. She blinked several times before saying anything.

"Uh, I dunno, kupo," She said finally, "I've never tried anything like that before."

"I am sure that is only because you have never met anyone with two minds in the same body."

"That's true," She crossed her tiny arms and pondered for a moment. "I dunno. It _might_ work, kupo, if I use myself as a mediator between the two of you."

"Then will you try it?"

"Why not? It's worth a shot."

"Then let us begin."

I sat down on the ground, on top of a small, grassy hill, and then I laid myself on my back. She floated down so she was above me and in front of my face. She placed her tiny moogle hands on my forehead and began to focus her energy. I caught a slight scent of adrenaline while she was doing this. She was afraid, but I could not blame her for it. She had never done anything of this nature before. It was only natural that she would feel a bit nervous.

I relaxed myself and closed my eyes, and my mind fell into a plane of darkness. It was a place in the mind where it was so dark, that I could not see my own paw in front of my face. This was a place that I had become very familiar with. It was not the most comfortable of places, but at least in this place, I would run the least risk of causing a disturbance.

********        ********        ********

[Moira]

It was dark. So dark, I couldn't even see my own hand in front of my face.

"What happened to me?" I thought. "Am I dead? Where am I?"

I was floating in some strange, black abyss. It felt so lonely. I tried to remember what happened when I was awake, but I just couldn't get it.

"Moira?" Called a familiar voice from the darkness, "Are you awake, Moira?"

"Hikorai?" I called back, recognizing the voice, "Is that you?"

"Yes, it is," she answered, "How do you feel?"

"...Cold," I answered back, "And lonely. Where are we?"

"This is the farthest corner in the back of your mind. This is where I stay in my efforts to stay out of your way."

"Why is it so dark?" I asked. "I can't even see myself."

"I am not sure why the darkness in this region is so intense. It may be the result of our two minds clashing with one another. Or perhaps it may be something more."

"But why am I in here?" I asked, "How did I get here? Hikorai, I don't remember what happened."

There was a long and uneasy silence.

"Hikorai?" I called, worried. "Please. I want to know."

"I am not so certain you do," she answered uneasily.

"What is it?" I asked again. After another long pause, I continued, "I did something horrible, didn't I? That must be the case if you're trying so hard to hold it back."

I waited another few moments to let her answer.

"Kalm," she said, finally, "It was destroyed."

"No," I muttered in disbelief, "No, how could this happen?"

That's when I remembered what happened. I went into a panicked rage after Raven mysteriously disappeared.

"I transformed," I realized.

"I... I was partly to blame," Hikorai spoke up, "I pushed forward in your mind in an attempt to calm you down. The body became confused and transformed. The process exhausted you and threw you back here in your state of unconsciousness, leaving me in control of your body. I do not know what I was thinking when all this was happening. Before this, I never would have thought anything like this would happen."

Though I couldn't see her, I could tell by the sound of her voice that she was blaming herself entirely. After thinking about it for a moment, the cold reality hit me.

"Oh no," I said with a shaky, wavering voice, "What about all the people there?"

"I am so sorry, Moira," she said, "There were no survivors."

"But... but that means.... Will.... Mom and Dad...."

I would've sat down had there been anything solid to sit on. I stared off into the darkness, hoping to find something. Anything. I wanted so badly to see through the lonely darkness to find something hopeful, but it was no use. No matter how hard I tried, there was nothing there.

When I finally gave up looking for something to see, I closed my eyes and tilted my head down.

"So..." I said in a weak, dull voice, "What're we gonna do now?"

"I am not sure," she answered, "I suppose I should continue to keep myself here, as far back in your mind as I possibly can. I have no desire to be the one in control of your body. I have already lived my life and died. My only wish is to rest in peace."

"I understand," I replied.

"Miss Moira?" a small voice echoed faintly from the distance.

"Your moogle friend is waiting for you," Hikorai pointed out.

"Yea," I answered, "I guess it's time for me to go back."

"And for me to return to my spot here," Hikorai said, as if demanding herself to stay put.

"Wake up, Miss Moira," the voice echoed, this time a little louder.

Then I suddenly felt like I was actually lying on something solid. It still looked dark, but that was because I still had my eyes shut. I slowly opened my eyes and found that I was back in the real world. I looked up and saw a dark night sky blanketed by thick clouds, a large rock to the right of me, and a moogle in my face.

"Good evening, Miss Moira!" She greeted.

"Hey Bibble," I greeted back, sitting myself up.

"I met the esper, kupo," she said, "She wants to help make things better for you."

"Ya, except neither of us knows what we should do next."

"Well, what do _you _want to do next, kupo?"

"I really want to look for Raven, but I'm not sure whether or not he's even alive now after all this."

"I thought I could read Mr. Raven's mind somewhere near the town when it got destroyed, kupo, but then it just disappeared and I couldn't pick it up anymore after that."

"So then he got caught in all the destruction, too," I said, lowering my ears, "And now all the people I love are dead."

"Ohh..." Bibble groaned in a whiny tone, "I'm sorry, kupo."

"Why are _you _sorry? You're not the one who did all this."

"Oh, please don't talk like that, kupo. You shouldn't blame yourself for all this."

"I'm the one who transformed into the giant monster cat and destroyed everything, not to mention killing everybody in it."

"Miss Moira--"

"What?! I have a dead esper in my head who's kicking herself in the ass for what's happening to me! She wants to go back to being dead, but I have no idea how to arrange that!"

"But it's not your fault!"

"Yes, it is!" I insisted, Bibble flew back a couple of feet, surprised by my sudden outburst, "I allowed Hojo to capture me so easily, so it's my own fault I look like this to begin with! So now she and I are both suffering because of my stupidity!"

There was a long and uneasy silence. I buried my head in my hands, looking down at the grass I was sitting on.

"I don't know what to do anymore," I continued, "I've lost everything; my family, my friends, both of the places I called home, even my love was taken from me."

Bibble floated down so she was in front of me again.

"Miss Moira?" she said softly.

I looked up at her. My vision was starting to blur because I was on the verge of crying, but I made an effort to hold it in.

"I'm still here, kupo."

After taking a moment to let that sink in, I couldn't help but smile. I chuckled, wiping off the tears that managed to well up in my eyes.

"Thanks, Bibble," I said, holding my arms up to her. She flew into them, and I hugged her as if she was a plush toy.

"It's ok, Miss Moira," she said, hugging me as best she could, "Everything will get better soon, kupo. You'll see."

"How are you so sure?" I asked as I tilted my head down to look at her.

"Because, kupo," she answered, tilting her head to look up at me, "When you hit rock bottom, the only place you got left to go is up, right?"

"I suppose you're right," I said, letting her go. She floated back up to where she was.

"So then, what were you and Hikorai doing while I was sleeping?"

"We were on our way to Midgar, kupo," she answered.

"Midgar?" I repeated, perplexed, "Why Midgar?"

"To see if we can find her Magecite, kupo."

"What makes you so sure we'll be able to find it."

"I'm not," she answered, "But we'd have a better chance of finding a way to get Hikorai back to her resting place if we had her resting place with us."

"You're right," I replied, lifting myself up onto my feet. "So then it's off to Midgar."

"Kupo!"

"And while we're there, I can also try and look for my scythe."

"Sounds good to me, kupo," she agreed, "Well, let's go."

I then began walking to Midgar, with Bibble flying right next to me. I didn't really feel much better about Kalm being destroyed, so I forced myself to think happy thoughts so Bibble wouldn't worry.

The air smelled really wet. I didn't really know what this meant, so I dismissed it as an aftereffect from holding back my tears. The clouds made the night sky look darker than it should've been. There was nothing to give off any light, but I could see everything around me like it was normal. It didn't bother me. I never really cared for not knowing what was around me.

The scenery moved much slower since we were going at my natural walking speed instead of the sprinting speed of a chocobo. The landscape wasn't that bad, so I really couldn't complain. There was mostly grassy, flat land behind us, and mountains in the distance in front of us. Midgar looked like a small speck on the horizon.

"This is going to be a long trip," I thought to myself, "A _really _long trip." 

********        ********        ********

(One Hour Later)

We arrived at Midgar soaked and tired. It started raining twenty minutes before we got there, and thus we quickened our pace. I had to start running with Bibble flying close behind me. As we got there, I realized that running was useless, since we were going to get wet anyway. Then it occurred to me that it only took us one hour to get to Midgar. We were only a mile or so away from Kalm when I started walking, so it seemed odd to me that it took us so little time to get there when it took me several hours on the back of a chocobo.

After catching my breath, I looked up at the crumbled walls of Midgar that stood only a few feet in front of me.

"We made it...?" I said, blinking for a few moments as huge raindrops fell on me. "But how did we get here so fast? I mean, yea, we've been running for the past twenty minutes, but I highly doubt we're that fast."

"I've been teleporting us while you were walking, kupo," Bibble answered, "I took the opportunity whenever you weren't really paying attention to your surroundings."

"Why couldn't you have just teleported us all the way here to begin with?"

"I can only teleport a certain distance per teleport, kupo," she explained, floating in front of my face. "And I have to wait for a period of time between teleports."

"Oh, ok."

I walked past her and looked around for a way into the city. Though the walls had become huge piles of metal and rubble, there wasn't a way to just walk in. There was even rubble where the doors used to be. The pile in front of me was at least twice my height and too steep to climb, and it looked like the pile stayed like that for as far as I could see.

"Maybe you can jump it, kupo," Bibble suggested, looking up at the top of the wall.

"You're kidding, right?" I retorted. "This wall of crumbled concrete is more than twice my height."

"Well, I just thought that maybe your new legs might give you more jumping strength, kupo."

"Hmm," What she said made sense. I always heard that cats were very good on their feet and can easily jump pretty high up. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to try."

I crouched down, looking up at the wall to keep my target in sight. I concentrated on positioning my feet in preparation for this jump, gathering my strength in my legs and feet.

My legs sprang as I launched myself into the air. I was amazed when I jumped over the wall and was still ascending. When my jump reached its peak and I started to fall, I noticed that I was more than thrice my height over the wall. Horizontally, I'd passed the wall entirely and was falling into the remains of the city of Midgar.

I started to panic as I watched the rubble-ridden ground quickly approaching. I shut my eyes at the last second, bracing myself for a painful landing. A split-second later, I felt my legs spring as I hit a pile of bent and broken metal. I opened my eyes and noticed that I was standing.

"You did it, Miss Moira!" Call Bibble as she flew down to me from over the wall, "You jumped it!"

"Yes, and I also landed on my feet," I said pointing down at my feet, still amazed that I landed on my feet after falling from so high up.

"Well, you're a cat, kupo."

It felt really weird to hear her say that. All I could do was give her a bizarre stare.

"What? You are!" She insisted. "...Um, so where should we start looking, kupo?"

"What?"

"For the Magecite, kupo."

"Oh, ya," I replied, snapping out of my strange daze, "I dunno. I guess we should start around what's left of the Shinra building."

"Ok, kupo."

I started walking across the large slab of stone I landed on. My foot slid on the slick surface, causing me to fall down and land on my butt.

"Miss Moira!" Bibble gasped, "Are you ok?"

"...ouch," I answered, bringing myself back up unto my feet and rubbing my butt. "Yes, I'm fine. Let's keep going."

"Uh, sure, kupo."

So we trudged through the incessant landscape of twisted metal, fragmented concrete, and falling rain. It looked like Meteor knocked down all the remaining plates. There was nothing but clouds and rain above me for miles around. Even a good portion of the giant cannon, the Sister Ray, didn't survive. The main parts of the cannon were still together, but several parts were still missing. I only picked that up when I saw holes on the side of the cannon where it looked like something would have been attached to it. Aside from the Sister Ray, the only part of Midgar still standing was the central pillar on which Shinra Tower stood.

There was a weird smell among the smell of rain, metal, and cement. It seemed to almost come from underneath the rubble. It wasn't a very pleasant smell, and it seemed like it should've been much stronger, but the rubble seemed to be thick enough under my feet to soak up most of the smell.

"What is that smell?" I asked when I couldn't stand how faint the smell was anymore.

"It's probably just something in the wind, kupo."

"But it smells like it's coming from underneath all the rocks."

"Well, you _are_ standing ontop of what's left of the plate, kupo. And rain has a way of doing weird things to smells."

"No, I'm pretty sure the smells coming from underneath, and if it is, that could only mean that the smell's coming from the crushed remains of the slums."

"You could be right, kupo."

I then remembered that the plates were each several hundred feet thick. I concluded that since I could smell so much of this unpleasant smell from ontop of the plate, then there must've been a massive amount of whatever it was underneath. After thinking about all that's happened, I could only pinpoint the smell to one thing.

"Is that what rotten flesh smells like?" I concluded.

"To a lesser degree, kupo, it is," Bibble answered, "There's a lot of it under the plate."

"I don't remember there being that many people living in the slums," I looked around noticing that the smell wasn't coming from anywhere but under the rocks, "I guess everyone evacuated out of the plates and either left Midgar altogether or took refuge in the slums. I'm willing to bet that most of them did the latter."

"How do you suppose that, kupo?"

"There aren't any bodies up here," I answered, "There's only debris as far as the eye can see."

"You're adapting really fast to your heightened senses of sight and smell, kupo."

"It's not like I have a choice."

"Hey! What's that, kupo?" she said as she stopped moving forward, pointing at something in the distance in front of us.

I looked where she was pointing and saw something moving. It looked like a faint green glow moving around in the distance

"That could be what we're looking for!" I said, noticing the green glow.

"Wait a minute, Miss Moira!" Bibble called to me as I started to trudge faster through the rubble, "If all the magic was sucked out of the Magecite, kupo, I don't think it would be able to glow like that."

"It doesn't hurt to go find out," I replied as I continued on towards the green light.

"Ok, kupo."

As we got closer and closer the green light, I noticed that the light was also moving towards us.

"Do you suppose there might be any survivors here, kupo?" Bibble asked, also noticing the light's movement.

"I highly doubt it," I answered skeptically, "The way Meteor was tearing everything up, I'd be impressed if even one of Shinra's machines survived the wreck."

The moment I said that, the light disappeared.

"Hey! Where'd it go?" I reacted as I stopped walking for a moment.

"I think there's someone there, kupo."

"What makes you say that?"

"There's something coming towards us."

She pointed off in front. I looked over and saw a large dark figure in a mysterious black cloak. It was walking through the rubble like it was nothing. We approached the strange figure as it also walked towards us.

"Uh, hi," I greeted uneasily, not quite sure what to say, "Um, are you lost or something?"

"Who is currently in charge of Shinra Incorporated?" The figure spoke in a deep, sort of metallic-sounding, voice.

"Shinra?" I pondered that for a moment, "Uh, Shinra's been destroyed, Pal."

"Destroyed?" The tall, dark figure replied.

"Ya, look around you," I continued, "Midgar's in ruins."

"I am fully aware of the destruction that has befallen on Midgar. Perhaps I can find more information if I go to Junon."

"Uh, yes, you do that," I answered as he walked passed me and out of sight. "Geez, what a weirdo."

"I know, kupo," Bibble replied, "What's weirder was that I couldn't read his mind at all. Like he didn't have one of his own."

"Maybe he doesn't," I answered. "Come on, let's just keep looking for that Magecite."

"Ok, kupo."

And so we continued the search. After several hours of additional searching, I realized that it might take days, or even weeks to find the small items we were looking for.

"Midgar's so huge," I pointed out in an almost hopeless-sounding tone.

"Yea, kupo," Bibble replied, "And to think President Shinra was planning on making Neo-Midgar even bigger than this."

"I remember him talking about that at the last meeting I guarded. What exactly was the Neo-Midgar Plan?"

"He wanted to find the Ancients' Promised Land, kupo, which legends said was the home of an Ancient race of people called the Cetra. Miss Aeris was the last of the Cetra, kupo."

"So, then President Shinra wanted to use her to find this Ancients' Promised Land so he could pave paradise and put up a bigger Midgar?"

"Exactly, kupo. He also wanted to build there because it was said to be directly connected to the Lifestream, which means more mako energy."

"That makes sense. Mako energy is said to be a byproduct of the Lifestream. And when mako energy condenses into a solid form, it becomes material. So with all that extra mako, he could make more mako-powered machinery."

"Right, kupo."

"I guess Shinra wasn't such a big idiot after all."

"Hey! What's that over there, kupo?" She pointed off to the left of me. I looked and saw something twinkling in the faint light on the ground just a few feet of me.

"Let's find out."

I approached the twinkling light, which by then turned out to be something buried under a small pile of scrap metal. I began digging through the scrap to find out what the twinkling was. After a few minutes of digging I uncovered a very familiar object, a small green stone with a red spot at the center.

"We did it, Miss Moira!" Bibble announced, doing flips in the air and clapping her tiny moogle hands, "We found the Magecite!"

"That's right, we did," I replied, holding up the Magecite piece. "Now we're just one step closer to helping Hikorai get back to her resting place."

I looked around and found a small pouch that I could tie onto the belt of my outfit. It was a bit torn up, but I didn't have any pockets, so it was better than nothing. I tied it to my belt and stuck the Magecite in it.

"Well, now I can concentrate the search on my scythe. We'll do that for the rest of the day."

"Ok, kupo!" Bibble agreed, "But I have a question."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Why don't you just get another scythe?"

I looked at her for a moment.

"In case you haven't figured it out by now, I don't have any money."

"You can fight monsters."

"Ok, first of all, it took me YEARS to save up for the scythe I had with the puny monsters around here. Second, how am I supposed to fight? Rip 'em apart with my bare hands?"

"First, kupo, we can go to a place where there are better monsters. Second, kupo, yes. You have claws. So they would make perfectly good weapons."

"But that just seems to barbaric."

"You got any other ideas, kupo? We were lucky to find the Magecite so quickly."

"Ok, fine," She was making too much sense for me to argue anymore, "We'll search here for the rest of the day, and if we don't find it by nightfall, we leave and I start beating up monsters with my bare hands."

"Good, kupo. You should start with the monsters around here so you can gain experience in fighting with your hands."

"Sure, but I don't want to think about that until we leave this place, and that won't happen until either night falls or we find my scythe."

"Ok, kupo."

So our search for the scythe began. As the searching went on, we were led closer and closer to the remains of the Shinra tower. Though the actual base of the building was over a hundred feet above the ground, there were several pieces of the building lying around all over the place. I did most of my searching wherever I found pieces of the building. And the closer we were to the center of Midgar, the more pieces of the building we found.

Hours passed, and we couldn't find it. I tossed aside pieces of metal beams, chunks of broken concrete, and shards of glass, making sure not to miss even an inch of the area. I was getting a headache from the constant smell of dead bodies, but it wasn't like I could do anything about it, so I kept my discomfort to myself.

Bibble, on the other hand, flew into every nook and cranny she could fit herself into. She didn't seem bothered by much of what was happening around her. My guess was that she was just hiding her disgust as much as I was. I was more than certain she knew how uncomfortable I was, but I didn't really care at the moment. I just wanted to find my scythe.

After a few more hours, the sun was starting to set, and I was starting to get tired of the repeating scenery of twisted metal, broken concrete, and scattered bits and pieces of human bodies. It got to the point where I couldn't smell the rotten flesh anymore. I wondered if it was because I was at an area where there weren't any bodies or if it was just that my nose had grown accustomed to the constant smell. I was also just plain tired.

I sat down on something that looked like it used to be a wall. My feet were hurting from walking so much. My arms ached and my hands and fingers throbbed from all the heavy objects I was tossing around.

Bibble slowly drifted over to me from an area she was searching at the moment. The flapping of her small, magenta wings was slower than usual, and she was drooped down. The blue pom-pom ontop of her head dangled lower over her head than it usually did, and her pink fur was rather scruffed from all the small tight spaces she was squeezing into throughout the day.

"Miss Moira," she called with a tired voice as she got closer to me.

"You look about as dead tired as I am," I pointed out as she landed and sat down on a platform in front of me that stood a couple of feet high. This way I didn't have to look down to look at her, but just straight ahead.

"Yea, kupo," she answered. "Can we leave now, please? I don't wanna be here anymore."

"Ya, I'm getting tired of this place, too. We won't be staying here much longer, I can promise you that. But we'll have to rest before we can have the energy to do any traveling beyond Midgar's gates. Since we're close to the center, it won't be a short trip to the outside."

"I think I might know a place nearby where we can rest, kupo. It's somehow still standing and kind of in one piece, and there aren't any dead people there, nor is there the horrible smell."

"I stopped noticing the smell hours ago, but it would be nice to have some fresh air. Where is it?"

"It's over that way," she said pointing to an area behind her. Then she turned back around and looked up at me as I slowly stood up. "I'm too tired to fly anymore, Miss Moira."

"Then don't," I replied, picking her up and holding her as if she was a plush doll. "Just tell me where to go."

"Just go in that direction and you should find it, kupo."

I walked for a bit, with Bibble directing me, until we came across a building that was still somewhat intact. It had two large doors that were in the form of an archway. There were also stained glass windows all over it, though they were all mostly broken. The area seemed relatively untouched by Meteor. There were other buildings around it, but they didn't look as stable.

"Looks like part of the slums," I pointed out.

"I think this was the Sector Five slums, kupo," she said as I walked us into the small group of buildings. I walked up to the more stable building and opened the large arch-shaped door on the front. I went inside, still holding Bibble in my arms.

The first thing I notice was that the smell changed as I walked inside. The air smelled fresh inside, as opposed to the horrible scent that was outside. It was clean for the most part, and there was a scent of flowers that grew stronger as I moved closer to the back of the room.

"This place looks familiar." I said as I looked around the inside of the building.

It was a huge room, lined with several rows of benches. Toward the back of the building was an altar, except that there was an enormous hole in the wooden floor that revealed a bed of yellow flowers.

"You were here before, kupo." Bibble said, prying into my memories, "While you were searching Midgar for that nonexistent training facility. Remember?"

"Though I don't really want to be reminded of that failed endeavor, I do remember seeing this place."

I walked up to the hole in the altar and put Bibble down next to it, sitting myself don beside her.

"This is the same rundown church I visited almost two years ago. It's incredible how this place was left completely untouched. These flowers are the only true survivors f Meteor here in Midgar."

"Ya, kupo, isn't that amazing?" She looked down at the flower bed. "Miss Aeris took care of these flowers."

"Really?"

"Yes, she grew up here in Sector Five, kupo."

"You don't say."

"Ya, she was adopted by a nice lady here after the war. And then--"

I let her drag on for a while. I wasn't really interested in Aeris's life's story. In fact, the topic of Aeris didn't interest me at all. I looked up at the roof and noticed that the sun was down completely, and the moon was shining into the empty church. It was then that my thoughts began to wander.

"I wonder if he's still alive," I thought to myself, "I highly doubt it, but I still wonder. What if he managed to escape Kalm in time, and ended up wandering off into the empty wilderness? I wonder if I should've been searching out there for him instead of wasting my time in here searching for my scythe. In reality, they're both really needles in a haystack. So if I was out there searching for him, would it also have been a waste of my time if I never found him? Wait, what am I talking about. Of _course_ it would've been a waste of time. If I never find him, then all that searching would've been for nothing. But, now that I think about it, it would've been worth more if my effort went more to searching for him than searching for my stupid scythe. Scythes are replaceable. I can always buy a new one. But Raven..."

I felt a deep pang of regret for not leaving Midgar while the sun was still high up. I could've just left the scythe and gotten a new one later, concentrating my search on Raven, but instead I selfishly stayed, deciding to endure the ugly scenery and the nauseating smell.

"Why?" I wondered in thought, "Why didn't I just go look for Raven?"

"Because you thought he was dead, kupo," Bibble answered, disturbing my train of thought.

I stared at her for a while, rather embarrassed.

"When did you stop talking about Aeris?"

"When I noticed that you stopped listening and started thinking about Mr. Raven."

"So you heard all of that?"

"No, kupo, I butted out and let you think to yourself for a bit. I heard 'I wonder if he's still alive' and 'Why didn't I just look for Raven?' But that's about it, kupo."

I then wondered if she really butted out or if she was just saying that to make me feel better.

"Hey! I wasn't lying, kupo!" She spouted out, rather insulted. "I actually _did _butt out! I know how to respect the most private of thoughts, especially when someone's having a conversation with herself, kupo!"

"So then why did you answer to that last part?"

"Because I was wondering if you were finished yet, kupo!"

"Well, you should've just waited until I notice that you weren't talking!"

"Well, kupo! Next time I will!"

"Well, fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

"Fine!"

We then stared at each other for a few seconds that seemed more like hours. After that we abruptly turned away from each other.

"The nerve of that snoopy little pink furball!" I thought to myself.

"I heard that, kupo!" She yelled back at me.

"You stop poking into my head!"

"As soon as _you _stop thinking bad thoughts about me, kupo!"

"If _you _would just stop picking my brain, maybe _I _wouldn't be irritable enough to _think _like this!"

"It didn't start bothering you until you started thinking about Mr. Raven!"

"Those thoughts were private!"

"I _told_ you I butted out of your mental conversation, kupo! Why won't you believe me?!"

"It's notthat I don't believe you. I _know _you didn't hear most of it, but that last time felt like the ultimate invasion of my privacy."

There was a long uneasy silence after that. I looked back over to her and found that she was also looking back at me.

"Oh," she uttered finally, lowering her head, pom-pom, and tiny ears.

There was another uneasy silence, but this time it wasn't out of seething anger.

"Bibble?" I spoke up.

She looked up at me again.

"I'm sorry, Miss Moira," she said, "I promise to just wait the next time you're having thoughts like that, kupo."

"I appreciate that, Bibble," I answered, accepting her apology, "I think we should get some sleep before we start our journey out of here."

"Yes, I think sleep is a good idea, kupo."

"Well, pull up some floor and get comfy. This wooden floor would definitely be more comfortable than all the crap that's outside."

"Not to mention that it smells nice in here, kupo, despite the horrible stuff that's stinking up the air outside."

"Yea," I answered as I rolled myself down onto my back on the splintered wooden floor.

"Miss Moira?"

"Yes, Bibble?"

"Please don't be so unhappy, kupo. Things can only get better from here. And who knows. Maybe we'll be lucky and find Mr. Raven."

"Maybe," I answered, "Someday maybe. Not now of course."

I rolled a little and found a comfortable position. I was tired enough that even a bed of solid rock would be comfortable, so the wood was a welcome substitute, and it didn't take me long to get comfortable.

"Good night, Bibble."

"Good night, Miss Moira."

It didn't take me long to fall asleep. When I found myself again in a dark void, I almost welcomed the lack of solid space. This time I could see myself. I looked human again, but I somehow knew that I'd never really look this way again.

"Good evening, Moira." I heard Hikorai greeting from far into the darkness.

"You seem more cheerful than usual," I pointed out, noticing a happier tone in her voice as she walked up to me from out of the darkness, "So I suppose you know what I was going to tell you."

"Yes I do," she answered as she stopped and sat down in front of me, "You have found my Magecite."

"Yea, so maybe now we have a better chance of getting you back to resting in peace."

"Indeed, our chances are better, but not by much," she said as her face went grim again, "Finding the Magecite was the easy part."

"I know, but now at least we've gotten somewhere."

"Yes, but we might be stuck at this somewhere for some time."

"Don't worry. We'll get there, even if it takes a hundred years."

"You certainly sound sure of yourself."

"The truth is I'm not really all that sure, but pep talking never hurts."

"Heh, well then," she chuckled, "In that case we will have to be sure to do our best."

"Right. I'm gonna try not to let my current emotional situation get the best of me."

"You should not give up searching for your boyfriend just for my sake."

"Who said I was giving up on Raven? After giving it some thought, I don't think he was in town when it got destroyed."

"Oh? What makes you say that?"

"Bibble told me that the rampaging went to a screeching halt when I found Raven crawling around Midgar. So if Raven was anywhere in town, I wouldn't have completely demolished it."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna travel the world looking for a way to get you back into your Magecite, and along the way I'll keep an eye out for Raven."

"That sounds like a plan," she said as she got up and walked away.

"Hey wait! Where are you going?"

"You are about to wake up," she answered, "I should go back to my place before the body wakes up and finds both of our minds in the same place."

"Oh..." I replied, "Well, I guess I'll see you later then."

"Until next time." She said as she disappeared into the darkness, leaving me alone again.

A light started shining in front of me. It shone brighter with each passing second, until the light covered everything. I shut my eyes and shielded them from he brightness of the light. When I opened them again, I found myself again lying on a wooden floor. I sat up and looked around to remind myself of where I was.

"Oh yea, the church," I said to myself.

I looked down in front of me and saw Bibble peacefully sleeping in the flowerbed, surrounded by pretty yellow flowers. I decided to let her sleep and wait until she wakes up before we start making our way out of Midgar.

"Take all the sleep you need, my friend," I thought, "We have a long and dangerous trip ahead of us."


	11. Ch 9: The Road Ahead

Chapter IX 

**The Road Ahead**

(The Following Morning)

I managed to get a bit more sleep before the sun came up. I woke up to a beam of sunlight hitting my face from a hole in the roof. The scent of flowers reminded me where I was, in the altar of a rundown church in the Sector Five slums in what was left of the city of Midgar. This sunbeam also let me know that the rain finally stopped.

I sat up and stared upward for a bit. There were several sunbeams coming down from several places in the broken roof of the church. A few beamed in through the stained glass windows. It was a nice sight to wake up to.

"Good morning, Miss Moira," called a small familiar voice from behind me. I turned around and saw Bibble flying up to me from the front door of the church. "Did you sleep well, kupo?"

"Yea," I answered with a yawn and a stretch, "How about you?"

"I slept great, kupo! The flowers were so comfy. Miss Aeris did a really good job taking care of them, kupo."

"I guess so."

"Maybe we can look for your scythe a little more, kupo."

"Well, I don't know about you," I started as I got up on my feet, "but I'm ready to get out of this giant scrap heap."

"Yea, kupo." Bibble agreed. "But I'm really not looking forward to the smell on the way through."

"Can't you just teleport us out of Midgar?" I asked, "Or do the limits of your teleporting powers restrict you from going that far?"

"Well, I'm not really sure just how far from the outside we are, kupo," she answered, "So whether or not I can teleport us out I can't really say."

"Well, then I guess we'll just have to find out for ourselves."

"If you say so, kupo," she replied, "But I'd have an easier time if we were outside so I can see where we're going."

As much as I wanted to avoid going back to the foul atmosphere outside, I couldn't argue with it. I wanted to get out of Midgar quickly and without much trouble.

"Lead the way," I agreed.

She turned around and flew out the door. I followed close behind, closing the door behind me as I left the beauty of the broken church. My senses were instantly reminded of the horrible experiences of the day before. The sight of the crumpled concrete and metal, the creepy sound of utter silence, the smell of burnt everything, along with the slight hint of dead bodies, which had gotten stronger over the course of the night.

"I'll be more than happy leaving this place behind," I thought out loud.

"Me too, kupo," Bibble replied.

"I wonder how this place survived the whole thing?"

"What do you mean, kupo?"

"I mean how this tiny section of the slums didn't get crushed by the plate."

"Maybe Miss Moira wanted to keep the flowers safe, kupo."

"I guess so," I replied, looking at the rubble that surrounded the area, "Because the pile of destruction is higher around this area than anywhere else in the whole city. It's like the falling debris was forced to fall around it instead of ontop of it."

"I wonder how we didn't see this before, kupo."

"Probably because it was dark and raining," I answered. "At any rate, I want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Then there's no time to lose, kupo," Bibble replied as she began staring off into the distance. It was like she was concentrating on something beyond what we could see.

The scenery suddenly changed from everlasting landscape of horrible broken technology into a pile of rubble that used to be a wall.

"Well, I almost got us out, kupo," Bibble said.

"The rest isn't a problem," I assured her, "I've proven that I can easily jump over this thing and we'll be out of here in no time."

So I leapt over and beyond the wall and into the dirt on the other side. A cloud of dust and dirt kicked up as I landed on the ground. I quickly shut my eyes and covered my face to keep the dirt from entering my eyes or lungs. Though I was a little too late because I did some coughing before the cloud disappeared.

I opened my eyes moments later and found Bibble floating in front of me.

"You're scared of getting dirt in your eyes, kupo?" she puzzled.

"No," I groaned.

"Then you shouldn't have to shut your eyes like that, kupo."

"Oh, shut up."

I started walking away from the giant structure behind me, Bibble following close behind.

"So where are we going, kupo?" Bibble asked.

"Not really sure yet," I answered, "I just want to get far away from Midgar and Kalm."

"And you're gonna do that by going west?"

"Whatever works."

"Well, west won't work, kupo. You'll end up at the ocean."

I stopped walking, turned around and looked up at Bibble.

"Well, Miss Smartypants, which is the best way away from here?"

"East, kupo."

"East, eh?"

"Yes, because if you go south, you'll end up at the impossible-to-climb mountains, kupo. And to the direct north is more ocean."

"And Kalm is to the north east," I added at the end, "So then east is my only option."

"Precisely."

"Alright, let's go."

So I began walking east. We traveled for several hours. Halfway through the walk, we started following the mountain to our right. There were some hills to our left that were at least twice my height.

After another hour of walking, I started noticing something.

"You know," I started, "we haven't run into a single monster throughout the entire trip."

"Well, kupo," Bibble answered, "That's because whenever I spot one, I always teleport us a couple of miles forward."

I glared up at her as she floated beside me.

"Just how am I supposed to get any money or experience with my claws if you're gonna teleport us away from danger?"

"Er..." Apparently, she'd forgotten that I was planning on fighting a bit during our journey. "I didn't want you hurting yourself."

"The monsters around here are too puny to do anything major to me. I just want some practice and some cash. Not to mention some food."

"You plan on eating the monsters you kill?" She looked at me with a look on her face that resembled raising an eyebrow.

"I don't see why not. If we set up a proper fire when we camp tonight, I might be able to cook us a monster."

"From what I can see, kupo, you don't even know HOW to cook a monster over an open flame."

"I might as well learn."

"Ok, kupo," she said uneasily, "I hope you know what you're doing."

"So then it's settled. Next monster we see, I'm killing."

".....And eating, kupo," Bibble added.

So we continued on. After a few minutes I started wondering where we were going to end up. Then the mountain to the right of us ended.

"Seems like we've reached the end of the mountain," I pointed out as we started walking around the mountain's end.

"We should head south from here, kupo," said Bibble, "After some time, we should see something."

"You don't even know where we're going?" I responded.

"It's been a while since I've been in this area, kupo, so give me a break if I don't remember what's out here."

After passing the mountain, we turned to the south. That was when I noticed the huge plain ahead of us. I stopped for a moment to just stare at the sheer endlessness of this flat green land that seemed to go on forever in almost all directions. To the right of us, there were more mountains, and farther south to the right, the land seemed to turn gray. When I looked straight ahead of us, I noticed a small speck on the horizon. I realized then that the speck might've been that something Bibble was talking about.

We walked toward that speck for what seemed like forever. We didn't run into any monsters, surprisingly. I didn't even see a single one the whole time we were walking through the flat plain. The speck on the horizon slowly got bigger as we got closer to it..... VERYslowly. After a while it didn't seem like we'd ever get there. And I was starting to get tired of walking.

"Hey, Bibble, can you get us there faster?" I wondered, knowing that all this time she'd avoided teleporting us anywhere.

"But I thought you didn't want me to teleport us, kupo."

"I changed my mind. Mostly because there aren't any monsters around here."

"That and you're tired of walking so much and having that speck grow so slowly."

"Exactly, so can you do it or what?"

"Ok, kupo."

Then the small speck suddenly became what looked like a huge ranch. It went from a mile or so away from us to just a few yards in front of us. The ranch had a big barn with an equally big silo, and nearby was a house. The ranch faced to the south, so we were looking at it from behind.

"A ranch," I thought out loud.

"Ya, kupo, let's go see!" Bibble replied, excited to see such a thing. She rushed off in front of me, leaving me behind as I kept my steady pace. I didn't really feel like running, so I just kept walking. Noticing that I wasn't speeding up, Bibble stopped and turned back to me.

"Are you too tired to run, kupo?"

"Doesn't take a mind-reader to figure that out."

"You're right, kupo. I didn't have to read your mind. I saw it in your face."

"It's been a long walk."

"Well, we've gone a long way since we left Midgar, kupo," she said as she floated alongside me as I walked around the barn. "Maybe the ranchers here will let us stay the night."

"Highly doubtful," I replied, "The way I look right now, I'll bet they'll assume I'm gonna eat whatever they raise here."

"You mean you don't know?" she asked, surprised that I didn't know what kind of ranch this was. She pointed ahead of us as we went in front of the barn. "Look in front of you, kupo."

I looked up and saw a huge pen with four chocobos in it. The fence of the pen wasn't very tall, but it seemed to be enough to keep chocobos from walking away.

"This must be the chocobo ranch Will kept telling me about," I said, realizing where I was, "This place belongs to his nephew, Billy."

One of the chocobos in the pen looked like it was staring at us from inside the pen, as if trying to figure something out about us. Then it ruffled its feathers and started "warking" like crazy.

"What's his problem?" I wondered out loud.

"He wants to speak with me, kupo," Bibble answered.

"You speak chocobo?" I looked up at Bibble, raising an eyebrow.

"I don't speak it, kupo, but I understand them well enough. I'll be right back," She said as she flew off to speak with the chocobo.

"Ok," I thought, "I'll just look around and see if there's anyone around here."

I went inside the barn, which actually turned out to just be a giant chocobo stable. There were enough stalls to house ten chocobos, though only six of them were occupied.

Two of the chocobos were the usual yellow color. There was also a green one, a blue one, and a black one. When I reached the last occupied stall, I was amazed at the shimmering gold color of the chocobo inside of it.

"A golden chocobo?" I asked in thought.

It looked up at me and stared for a moment, as if it was examining my personality or something. It stuck its head out of the stall to have a better look at me. I reached my hand up to rub its head.

"Hey!" Screamed a loud, angry voice from the barn door. The chocobo jerked back, fluttering its wings. I looked over and saw a young man standing at the doorway, holding a pitchfork in his hands.

"What are you doing to that chocobo?!" He demanded, marching toward me as he did.

"Relax, will you?" I replied, "I was just looking at it."

"Looking does not involve touching!" He yelled, still marching towards me.

"Look, I came all the way from Midgar, and I'm tired, ok?"

"Do you think I'm stupid? Midgar was destroyed two days ago. And it takes at least a week to get here from there on chocobo, let alone on foot, it's too far away for anything human to get here in one day." The man gruffed, "And since when did monsters know how to talk?"

"WHAT?!" That pissed me off, "I am NOT a monster, you smart-ass son of a--"

"Miss Moira!" Bibble interrupted, flying past the angry man, who'd stopped marching about five feet away from me when she called. I saw his face instantly change from completely pissed to completely confused.

"Hey, Miss Moira," She repeated, "You know that chocobo outside, kupo? He says he might know you from somewhere."

"Really?" I responded.

"Ya, kupo," She paused and looked into the stall with the gold chocobo, "Kupo! What a beautiful gold chocobo!"

"I thought so, too," I replied, "And I was just admiring it when Numnutz over here decided to wave his pitchfork at me."

"Hey!" The guy reacted.

"That wasn't very nice of you, Miss Moira," Bibble scolded, "Even if he did deserve it, kupo."

"Well, he shouldn't have called me a monster."

"Well, you certainly don't look human," he bounced back, laying down his pitchfork, "And the name's Billy, not Numnutz."

"Billy?" I repeated, recognizing the name, "Will's nephew, Billy?"

"Uh, yea," he answered, seemingly surprised I knew Will, "How do you know my uncle Will?"

"Kalm was my home town."

"I've been to Kalm a few times. How come I've never seen you there?"

"Well, the last time I saw you was around four years ago. Yes, you have seen me, but I was human back then."

"Four years ago?" he pondered, "Wait... You were that girl that was at the stable that one time I had to ride to Kalm for supplies."

"That right, genius," I retorted, "Your uncle Will was a really close friend of mine."

"So, you're that Moira girl he was always talking about?"

"Ya, that's me."

There was a long and awkward silence after that. He stared me up and down, looking like he wanted to ask me about my appearance.

"Long story," I answered before he could ask.

"And...?" he pointed up at Bibble.

"She follows me around and keeps me company."

"Hi, kupo!" she answered, "My name is Holly Bibble!"

"Uh-huh..." Billy couldn't seem to do anything but stare at us.

"Wark!" squawked a chocobo outside.

"Oh ya, Miss Moira," Bibble turned to me, "That chocobo outside still wants to talk to you."

"Fine, let's go," I said, exasperated, walking past Billy as he just stood there and gawked at me.

When I got outside the door, I immediately saw a chocobo leaping over the fence, flapping its wings to give itself lift. I was nearly knocked backwards by the wind from the flapping as it landed in front of me.

"Woah!" Billy said as he ran out of the barn behind me, "That chocobo flew!"

"He did, didn't he?" I replied, staring at the chocobo's curious face as it examined me head to toe. After a moment, the chocobo warked happily and started nuzzling its head against me, and I couldn't help but rub its head while it did.

"He seems to recognize you," Billy pointed out.

"And I certainly recognize him," I replied, "There's only one chocobo I know that will fly for me."

The chocobo looked down at me, and I looked right back at him.

"Isn't that right, Jamie?"

He warked with excitement and continued nuzzling. I found myself giggling and petting him. After a while, I ended up hugging him as his head went around and behind me.

"It's good to see you again," I said finally. "You're a sight for sore eyes."

"Jamie?" Billy said in confusion, eyebrow raised.

"This was the chocobo I trained with in Kalm," I explained, letting Jamie go, "While I was practicing my fighting skills, he was practicing his flying."

"And when she moved out of Kalm to Midgar, kupo," Bibble continued, "It was Jamie who flew her there. That was two years ago, kupo, and since then they haven't seen each other at all."

"It must be fate that you got here when you did," Billy said, "My client who caught all these chocobos just told me to release all of 'em."

"This is wonderful, kupo! A happy reunion! See, Miss Moira? I told you things would get better."

"I'm surprised he even recognize me," I replied, "The last time I saw him was two years ago, and now I don't exactly look the way I did then."

"A chocobo never forgets someone who was close to them, and will always recognize 'em," Billy said, "From what Uncle Will told me, you two were really close."

"One of my very best friends," I clarified.

"Wark!" Jamie agreed.

"Now our traveling will be easier, kupo," Bibble said, "And a whole lot more fun, too. 'Cuz now maybe you won't be so angry and sad all the time."

"Oh hush!" I responded, "At ay rate, it all depends on whether or not Numnutz will let us have him."

"_Not _if you're gonna keep calling me Numnutz!" He yelled.

"Heh, well ok, _Billy_," I enunciated, "May we have this chocobo?"

"Well, of course you can," he answered, "He's yours after all. And besides, I was gonna release all these chocobos anyway, remember? So it shouldn't matter what I think."

"Kupo! This is so exciting!" Bibble cheered as she did some backflips in the air.

"Wa-ark Wa-Wark!" Jamie agreed, fluttering his wings.

"Say, why don't you guys stay the night before you continue your travels?" Billy offered. "Coming all the way from Midgar, you must be dead tired."

"Well, uh..." I muttered.

"Of course, kupo, we'd love to stay the night," Bibble happily accepted for me before I could say anything coherent.

"You'd really let us stay?" I wondered out loud.

"Our ranch is also a mini inn for our clients," he explained.

"That's convenient," I replied.

"And besides," he continued with a sheepish expression on his face, "It's the least I can do after threatening you and calling you a monster."

"I'd probably think the same thing in your position."

"Yes, but I still feel like I owe you."

"Well this certainly makes up for it, kupo," Bibble replied. "And besides, Miss Moira was reunited with Jamie, kupo, so her mood has already gotten much better."

"Well, come inside the house and we'll talk about everything over a hot cup of coffee."

"That's sounds good to me," I answered as we started walking towards the house.

Jamie was right behind me for a moment, but when I noticed that he was following me, I stopped and turned around a moment.

"Hey Jamie, how about you go back in the pen for the night, and we'll see each other in the morning, ok?"

"Wark," Jamie answered, nodding his head.

With that, he turned around and flew back over the fence and into the pen. He then turned back around to watch me walk away from the pen and towards the house.

The inside of the house was just as nice as the outside. The front door led right into the dining room, with the kitchen to the right. Turning right from the kitchen led to the bedroom, which had three beds in it.

"Hey Grandpa," Billy urged the old man. "We've got company now, Grandpa, so you'd better wake up."

"Wha-rmph urum?" He mumbled? "Did that spiky-blonde-haired boy come back again to rent out more stables?"

"No, Grandpa. These guests are new," he said as he nudged the man awake.

He sat up straight and stretched his arms and back. Then he looked up at me.

"Well, how do you do?" the old man greeted, holding his hand out to me, "Name's Bill."

"Nice to... meet you," I greeted back uneasily, "I thought Billy lived with his _father _named Bill?"

"He did," Grandpa Bill answered, "But I arrived a few months ago, and Sonny Bill up and left soon after."

"So you're both named Bill?" I asked.

"Yup," Billy answered, "He's Bill, my dad's Bill Jr., and I'm Bill the Third, But I like to be called Billy."

"So to Will, that would make him...?"

"I'm 'is brother," Answered Grandpa Bill. "And how do you know about good ol' Brother Will?"

"She's Moira, Gramps," Billy answered for me.

"Moira?" he repeated "_The _Moira?"

"Will did a lot of talking about me, didn't he?"

"He sure did," Grandpa answered, "Whenever the topic of 'Moira' came up in a conversation, he'd never shut up aboutcha."

"Ya," Billy agreed, "It just about takes a spontaneous change of topic to get him to stop talking."

"Wish that would work for Cousin Big Mouth Willy, though," Grandpa added.

"Geez, no kidding," I replied, remembering my encounter with Willy, "But there's something bothering me."

"What's the problem?" Grandpa Bill asked.

"How come you're not bothered by the way I look?"

"Why would I be?" He answered, "You seem like a nice young lady, so appearances shouldn't matter."

Then Bibble came floating down next to my ear.

"That and he doesn't have his glasses on, kupo," she whispered.

"Oh," I whispered back.

"Grandpa's extremely nearsighted," Billy answered.

"Uh-huh," I replied.

"Please, both of you, sit down and relax," Billy insisted, as he walked into the kitchen, "I'll make you some coffee, and we can actually have a real conversation."

"You mean one that doesn't involve you threatening me with a pitchfork?" I joked as I sat on the chair across the table from Grandpa. Bibble just sat ontop of the table next to where I was sitting.

"You threatened 'er, Billy?" Grandpa retorted, "Yer not supposed to threaten the guests, ya know."

"I thought she was someone else," he explained.

"Well, you keep speaking as if there was another here with her."

"That's right, kupo," Bibble answered, "I'm right here in front of you."

"Huh?" Grandpa replied in confusion, "Wait, lemme get my glasses."

He picked his glasses up off the table and put them on. He then looked down at the table and saw Bibble waving her little blue pom-pom.

"Hi, kupo!" She greeted, "My name's Holly Bibble!"

"A moogle?" he stared for a moment, then he looked up at me, "Woah!"

"Ya, I seem to have that affect," I replied.

"Well, that explains a lot," Grandpa said, "I was really wondering why you were so concerned with your appearance."

"Well, now you see why," I said, tugging at one of my large cat ears.

"How do you ladies like your coffee?" Billy asked from the kitchen.

"With lots of milk and sugar in it," I answered.

"Just milk for me, please," Bibble answered after me, "Without the coffee, kupo."

"Yea, she's hyper enough as it is," I added, "Without adding a mug full of caffeine into her system."

"Ok, so that's a coffee with lots of milk and sugar," Billy repeated, "And a glass of milk for the moogle. Got it."

After a moment, Billy walked out of the kitchen with a mug of coffee in one hand and a glass of milk in the other. He walked up to the table and placed the drinks in front of us. Then he quickly walked back to the kitchen and came back with two more mugs of coffee. He then sat down at the table next to Grandpa and placed a mug in front of himself and one in front of Grandpa.

"So, Moira," Billy started, looking up at me, "Tell us your long story."

"Are you sure you want to hear it?" I asked, sipping my coffee. "It's not pretty, and it doesn't exactly have a happy ending."

"If you don't tell me, I'll die from the curiosity," Billy answered.

"I dunno, kupo," Bibble replied, "Some of it's pretty hard to believe."

He just stared at Bibble, blinking his eyes for a moment.

"The fact that there's a moogle drinking a glass of milk on my dining room table is pretty hard to believe," he responded, "I don't think there would be anything much more unbelievable than that."

"You'd be surprised," Bibble and I said at the same time, both sipping our drinks.

"Try me," Billy insisted, placing his elbows on the table.

"I'm pretty curious about this myself," Grandpa added in, "Just tell us about it."

"Ok," I said. "Where should I start?"

"Anywhere," Billy answered.

So I began telling my story from the day I met Raven, all the while sipping my coffee. I told them about Hojo and the job offer he gave me. I told them how I handed Raven over to Hojo because I thought Hojo could cure him. I told about Nanaki, the lab experiment in the tank I was "guarding". I told about my capture and how I met Hikorai. I went through how I witnessed Midgar's destruction. And then I told about my transformation in Kalm. I had to pause for a moment and buried my head in my hands.

"I never got to see my parents before they died," I said in full realization, voice cracking as I said it.

"Want me to take over, kupo?" Bibble asked, putting her tiny moogle hand on my shoulder.

"Sure," I nodded. It was like my voice decided to quit halfway through the word. It was right then that I realized just what I'd done. And it made me feel like a monster.

"Later in the day, kupo," Bibble continued the story where I left off, "We went back to Midgar to see if we could find Hikorai's Magecite. We were lucky enough that we actually managed to find it. We spent another few hours looking for Miss Moira's scythe, kupo, but we couldn't find it. After a whole day of searching through Midgar, we left and started walking here. And the reason we got here so fast was because I was teleporting us most of the way. Then we found this ranch, kupo, and you already know the rest."

"Is this the part with the pitchforks?" Grandpa wondered out loud.

"Ya, I found Moira in the barn, looking at the gold chocobo," Billy explained, "I thought she was a monster, so I waved the pitchfork at her. Which, thinking about it now, makes me feel like an idiot."

"No," I replied, "You were right."

"Uh... about what?" Billy asked.

"I don't have any right to be here," I continued, "I _am _a monster."

"Now don't go feelin' sorry for yerself!" Grandpa scolded.

"Ya, kupo," Bibble added, "You _know _that it's not your fault."

"I still can't help feeling this way," I replied, finishing off my coffee, "I mean how would you feel if your home town was destroyed at your hands."

"I'd feel pretty crappy," Bibble answered, "But it's still not you're fault, so stop blaming yourself."

"Yea, that's just the shock, stress, and depression talking," Billy added. "You've had a hard week and a very long day, so why don't you go over to the bedroom and rest a while?"

"Ok," I answered as I got up off the chair and started walking towards the bedroom. Bibble soon followed, floating close behind me. Then as I walked over to one of the beds, Bibble floated up to my ear.

"You know, you really should think too hard about it, kupo," Bibble advised, "If you analyze it too much, you'll just make your emotional situation worse."

"It's not like I can help it," I said back softly and sat down on the soft, cushy bed, "Wow a bed."

"See? It's not all bad, kupo," Bibble assured me, "Just lay down, take a nap, and everything will be different when you wake up."

"Maybe you're right, Bibble," I replied as I lay down on the bed and made myself comfortable. "Good night."

"But it's mid-afternoon," Bibble pointed out.

"Then it'll probably be night when I wake up," I groaned, already starting to fall asleep. "Later, Bibble."

"Ok, Miss Moira," She answered.

I then felt my mind fall back into the deep darkness. I was again alone in darkness, but I didn't mind it. I didn't look for Hikorai this time. Instead I aimlessly stared out into the black space and pondered.

"Should I really be allowed to live like this?" I wondered in thought, "A walking disaster waiting to happen? What if I lose control again? What will I do?"

"You should not strain yourself with too much thought," said a familiar voice from the dark. "You might think yourself into thinking that you caused everything."

"How would you know what I'm thinking?" I replied, already knowing who it was, "And besides, what's left for me to do other than think about what's happened?"

"I cannot read your thoughts like your moogle friend, but your expression is unmistakable. You are much too melancholy, even for the situation we are in," Hikorai answered, appearing in front of me, "You could try to think about what you should do next."

"And what should I do next?" I looked up at her, "I'm not sure if I'll ever find Raven again. He could be anywhere. And I have no idea how I'm gonna find a way to separate us."

"I see," she replied, "There is stress coming from both the past and the future."

"Ya, and the present isn't all that great either."

"Really?" She said, raising her left brow, "Were you not reunited with an old friend today?"

Then I felt like my face was smacked with a big wave of "duh".

"Jamie," I remembered out loud, "I forgot all about him."

"And is it not true that your moogle friend has stayed with you through this entire ordeal?"

"That's true," I agreed, "Bibble has stayed with me. And now I'll also have Jamie with me."

"And you must not forget that I am also here," she assured me, "It may not have been my choice to be here, but I am here for you nonetheless."

"Thanks," I smiled, "My past pretty much sucks, and my future looks pretty hopeless."

"So what will you do about that?" Hikorai asked.

"Live with it, I guess," I sighed, "Nothing else I can do."

I shut my eyes for a moment and then opened them again, but when I did I was in the chocobo ranch, lying in the bed. I turned over to face the ceiling, and stared at it for a while. I knew it must've been pretty late at night, and it was very dark in the room, but I could see the details in the ceiling pretty well.

"Hmm. Cat night vision," I concluded in thought, "Wonder where Bibble is?"

I looked around and saw Bibble asleep in the next bed over. She looked a little silly, such a small creature sleeping in a bed meant for a full-sized human.

I sat up and looked around. I was too wide-awake to go back to sleep, so I decided to get up out of bed and walk out of the room. I then found myself walking out of the house. I didn't see Billy or Grandpa Bill as I went, but it didn't matter at the moment.

As soon as I stepped outside the door, I looked over at the chocobo pen. Three of the four chocobos were missing.

"I guess Billy let the others go," I assumed.

I looked closely and saw Jamie sleeping in the corner of the pen closest to the house. He was sitting down on the ground with his head buried in the feathers on his back. Seeing this, I decided to go somewhere else, not wanting to disturb his peaceful sleep.

I walked around the back of the house, looking over at the mountains in the distance. The sky was clear of clouds and full of stars, which was surprising to me. I wasn't used to seeing a clear sky anymore, living in Midgar as long as I did.

Then I heard a noise coming from around the corner of the house. It sounded like footsteps coming from a large animal, and it sounded like it was walking towards me. I braced myself for an attack. I was surprised when I saw what walked around the corner.

"Jamie?" I said, recognizing the chocobo as it came walking towards me.

"Warrrk," He trilled and nuzzled his head on my face.

"I was just enjoying the view," I said, looking up at the sky. "I'd forgotten what a star-filled sky looked like."

"Wark?" Jamie asked, looking at me.

"Living in a big city, like Midgar, there's too many lights to see very many stars in the sky, even on the clearest nights."

"Wark," he replied, looking up at the sky.

"It's beautiful," I commented, "I hope I can always look up at the sky and see the stars. It would be a shame if something happened where I couldn't."

"Miss Moira?" Called a small voice from around the corner.

"Bibble?" I called back as Bibble came floating around the corner.

"I woke up not long after you did, kupo," she explained before I could ask, "I wanna look at the stars, too."

"Well, here they are," I replied, looking back up at the sky.

"Well, actually, Miss Moira," Bibble started, "I was thinking that since we're all awake now, maybe we could start getting ready to go now?"

"I don't see why not," I answered. "I'm all rested. How about you, Jamie?"

"Wark," Jamie nodded. Then he bent down, lowering his body so I could get on.

"Bareback?" I wondered.

"Warrk wark warark," Jamie squawked.

"He said he never really cared much for saddles, kupo," Bibble translated.

"Oh, ok," I replied as I hopped onto Jamie's back.

"Do you mind if I ride with you, kupo?" Bibble asked, "I can't fly as fast as a chocobo can."

"No problem," I answered. She immediately flew down and sat down in front of me where Jamie's back and neck met.

"Alright, Jamie," I said, "Let's go."

Jamie then walked back around the house, heading to the west. After passing the house, he started picking up his pace, going from walking to jogging and then finally to sprinting. As he went faster, he lowered his head and lifted his wings. All the while I pressed myself down, though careful not to crush Bibble under me. As he reached his top running speed, he opened his wings and took off.

We soared higher and higher, until the ranch looked like a doll house set. I looked down at Bibble to see if she was ok. She looked very happy, feeling the wind in her face. Her pom-pom dangled in the wind, much of the time hitting me in the chest, but it was soft, so it didn't bother me. Then she looked up at me.

"Are you ok now, Miss Moira?" Bibble asked, "Did sleeping help?"

"Yea it did," I answered, "I'm sorry if I worried you."

"That's ok, kupo, you just have to watch out when you start thinking too much about your situation."

"You're right," I replied, "It's not gonna be easy, though."

"Whatcha gonna do now, kupo?"

"I'm gonna do what I set out to do," I answered, "I'm gonna look for a way to help Hikorai go back to being dead, and I'm gonna look for Raven."

"But what if you never find them?"

"I'll worry about that later," I said, "Right now, I just wanna get this search started."

"Ok, kupo," She replied and then went back to enjoying the wind. "You can say that we're kinda having an adventure."

"Really?" I replied, "What makes you say that?"

"Well, kupo, we're going to see lots of neat new places along the way. We'll be having all sorts of new experiences, and we'll meet all sorts of new people."

"I suppose you're right," I said, "This flight over the swamp would just be our first step."

"Beyond the swamp is the mountains, kupo, inside which is a place called the Mythiril Mines."

"Do you know what's beyond the mountains?"

"Nope."

"Great," I groaned.

We flew over what looked like a giant swamp. I thought I saw something large slithering through it, but I dismissed it and looked ahead. All I saw was mountains stretching to the left and right in front of us, so I had no idea what to expect ahead. It didn't really matter, though. All that mattered was starting the journey, taking the first steps, and starting the search for what I'd promised to find.


	12. Ch 10: Kindred Spirits

**Chapter X**

**Kindred Spirits**

(One Year Later) {Year 1 After Midgar}

"Whoever said 'It's a small world' should be shot," I said for the thousandth time.

"Well, kupo, we've searched almost the whole world now, and It's only been one year," Bibble replied. "That phrase must have some truth to it."

"But we still haven't found anything," I shot back.

I rode on Jamie's back as he trotted along the ground. We didn't feel like flying that day. We had just left a small town called North Corel. It was a messy town on the continent on the other side of the ocean from Midgar. There was lots of mining going on. There was also a trolley service that went to a theme park called The Gold Saucer. As we left, I started wondering if we'd ever find what we were looking for. As we went up and over the mountains surrounding North Corel, I decided to start complaining about how small the world wasn't. It was the only thing on my mind. It was mid-afternoon, so I didn't really feel like sleeping. So complaining seemed to me like the only thing to do on the trip.

"On the bright side, kupo, we got to see some amazing sights."

"Heh, yea, like the amazing town of Junon, which was missing its famous giant cannon, which is rusting away in Midgar's ruins now."

"It was still a cool place to visit, kupo. It had all sorts of other giant machinery."

"It also had a giant hole in the main building."

"That happened while they were fighting Weapon, kupo."

"Another one of those giant Weapon monsters that were running loose while Meteor was on its way?"

"Yup."

"Wait, wasn't that the one that was hding in the dessert under the Gold Saucer?"

"That was Ruby Weapon, kupo."

"And the one that was lurking in the ocean?"

"Emerald Weapon."

"And the one that attacked Midgar and got blown up by the giant cannon that used to be in Junon?"

"Diamond Weapon."

"And this one was just called Weapon?"

"Yup."

"Yeesh. All this while I was sleeping in Hojo's lab."

"The Gold Saucer was a fun place to visit, kupo."

"Yea, except half of the rides were close for renovations and the other half had people that didn't like my face, so they didn't let me on any of 'em."

"Well, you gotta admit that Costa Del Sol was a pretty town, kupo. Right by the warm, sunny beach."

"Too hot. After several hours being there, I started to wonder if the sun was gonna light my fur on fire."

"You didn't like the ocean?"

"As you may recall, I didn't go near it because of all the people on the beach."

"There must've been _some _place you liked, kupo."

"Nope. Everywhere we went there were people gawking, pointing, and making stupid comments and faces at me. And don't tell me I'm wrong about the stupid comments. These big cat ears don't miss much."

"You should learn to ignore things like that, kupo."

"I know, but it still bothers me."

"Hey! We're almost at Rocket Town, kupo."

"Wonderful," I droned in sarcasm as we approached the front of the town.

The town didn't look too bad. It had fewer houses than Kalm did, but it took up more space, so the houses were a bit further spread apart. The first thing I noticed was a familiar-looking airship parked behind the town. As we rode in, I decided to speak the second thing I noticed.

"Well, we have a Rocket Town, but we don't have a Rocket," I sneered, looking up at Bibble, floating to the right of me.

"Well, Rufus used it to try and blow up Meteor, kupo," Bibble answered.

"So he launched Rocket Town's famous piece-of-crap rocket," I replied, "And let me guess, it didn't work, right? So now all that's left is the giant launch pad where the rocket used to be. This place should be called Airship Town now because that's mostly what you see."

"Miss Moira, you really should work on your anger problem," She advised, "It's really starting to worry me, kupo."

"I can't help it, Bibble," I sighed, calming down a little, "It's just been so frustrating, and I don't just mean the people we meet."

"I know, kupo," She said, "Don't worry. We'll find Mr. Raven... eventually."

I then suddenly felt a subtle pain in my chest, like someone placed a rock where my heart was. Remembering how much I missed Raven was the last thing I wanted to do at the moment. I found myself unable to speak for that moment.

"Oh I'm sorry, Miss Moira," Bibble apologized, "Come on, kupo, let's just go inside."

"Let's see if anyone will actually let me stick around."

Jamie stopped walking at the center of the town. I looked around, and I didn't see anyone outside. I got off his back and onto the ground.

"This seems odd," I pointed out as I looked around, "Usually at a town there'd at least either be a bunch of children playing or a crazy old man standing by his house waiting to tell a long and wordy story."

"And sometimes both, kupo," Bibble added.

"Yea, but I don't see either. There's nobody out here."

"Maybe everybody's sleeping, kupo."

"In the middle of the afternoon? I don't think so."

I started listening for possible inhabitants of the quiet town. After a while, I managed to pick up faint whispers coming from the inside of the houses.

"I thought so," I said, "There are people here. And they're hiding. It figures."

"And you're so sure it's you they're hiding from, kupo?" Bibble remarked.

"Are you saying it's not?"

"Well... Uh..."

"I thought so," I said as I got ready to get back onto Jamie's back. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

"Where will we go, kupo?"

I stepped up to mount Jamie, but then I stopped as a thought occurred to me.

"What's the nearest town from here?" I asked in curiosity.

"I think it's Nibelheim, kupo, but we'd have to climb more mountains to get there."

"So it's to the south of us?" I said and pondered it for a moment, "And I really don't feel like climbing more mountains."

"So what'll we do, kupo?"

I breathed a sigh, not quite sure what to do. I stepped back down and leaned my head on Jamie's back.

"Wark," Jamie squawked.

I looked up at him, and he looked back at me. He looked exhausted. Climbing the mountain was a strain for him, since he wasn't exactly a mountain chocobo. And then walking for several miles after that without rest wasn't exactly easy for him either.

"Well, it doesn't seem like we have much choice but to rest here," I concluded.

I started walking to the back end of the town.

"But we can't go there, kupo!" Bibble yelled out after reading where I had in mind for us to rest.

"We have to," I replied, "The Rocket's launch pad is the only place where we won't bother anyone."

"But Miss Moira..."

"You suggesting we go into the airship?"

"No, kupo, but..."

"I don't see the problem, Bibble," I insisted, "Since there's no Rocket, and Shinra's not around to fund people to make things like that anymore, the place should be abandoned."

"Ohhh..." she whined as I made my way to the empty launch pad.

"Besides," I continued, "Jamie needs the rest more than we do."

"I guess so, kupo."

As we walked past the houses and into the launch pad, I noticed that the place wasn't in as big a mess as I expected. There were pieces of scrap metal in piles sorted by size, shape, and color. There were machine parts sorted and stacked in other places. It started to look like the launch pad wasn't so abandoned.

"Maybe this wasn't such a good idea," I said. "Maybe we should just go rest someplace outside of town."

"Someone's coming, kupo," Bibble announced as I started to hear footsteps coming from the town behind me.

I turned around and saw a scruffy-looking guy with blonde hair stomp up to the launch pad behind us. He wore dark pants, a blue jacket, and a set of gloves, scarf, and goggles that a fighter pilot would wear. He had an unlit cigarette in his mouth and a full pack of cigarettes tucked under the strap of his goggles.

As he walked up he lit up a match and lit the cigarette in his mouth. He then walked up to me and stopped only a few feet from me and started yelling at me, smoking as he went.

"Alright, who the fucking hell are you and what do you want here?!"

After a moment he shook his head in confusion and just pointed at me.

"No, scratch that. WHAT the fucking hell are you?"

And then he noticed Bibble and pointed at her too.

"And YOU?!"

"I'm a moogle, kupo," Bibble answered in a little cutesy voice. "My name is Holly Bibble."

"Alright, now I know YOU can talk." Then he looked back at me, crossing his arms, "And what about you?"

"WHAT or WHO I am is none of your business," I answered. "All I want here is to give my chocobo some rest. He just hiked over a mountain and walked hundreds of miles from North Corel, carrying me on his back!"

"Well, you can rest wherever the hell you want, but not here!"

"Geez!" I rolled my eyes and looked up at Bibble, "We've only been in this town a few minutes and we're already being kicked out of it."

"Who the fuck said I was kicking you out of town?!" He spat, "I just said you can't rest your damn bird here in my launch pad!"

"YOUR launch pad?" I raised an eyebrow.

"That's right, MY launch pad!" He answered, "I am Captain Cid Highwind of the airship Highwind!"

"The Highwind?" I repeated, looking over at the airship parked next to the launch pad. "I knew that airship looked familiar. It's yours?"

"You're damn right she's mine. Everything you see in this launch pad is mine. I use it all to build and repair aircrafts, and I don't want you, your bird, or your... moogle to fuck anything up here. So if rest is really all you want, then come with me."

"Huh?" I blurted in confusion, blinking a few times. The sudden change in direction from rude to hospitable seemed off.

"What?! Are you fucking deaf? I said come with me! And bring your bird and your... moogle with you!"

"Uh... Bibble?" I thought to her.

"We can trust Mr. Cid, Miss Moira," Bibble whispered to me, "He's not really as mean as he sounds."

I reluctantly followed after Cid. He took us to a house on the far side of the town, not far from the launch pad. Parked behind the house was an old airplane with the words "Tiny Bronco" painted on each of its wings. As we approached the house, I just kept looking at the plane.

"A plane?" I wondered out loud.

"I told you I build and repair planes," he answered, "That was the one Shinra funded me to build, but that retarded buzzard didn't fly very far when we needed it too. It ended up crashing into the sea, and all we could use it for was as a shallow-water boat."

"I guess it was Shinra that funded you to build the Rocket too, right?"

"Actually, Shinra just decided to build the rocket here and hired me to fly it into outer space, there wasn't a town here at the time, so there wasn't a problem. That Rocket was a damn masterpiece, too. But Shinra was a bunch of assholes about it. They abandoned it after it failed to take off the first time. So it ended up just sitting on the launch pad for a couple of decades, then this town was built here and named itself for the rocket that stuck out of it. Then some years after that the Shinra decided to fix it and send it into Meteor. What a damn waste! The only good that came out of it was that I got the chance to see outer space. Shinra seemed to REALLY like pissing the hell out of me by giving me the money to build my aircrafts and then coming here to take 'em away from me. But now I have enough spare parts layin' around so I don't need much funding."

"Outer space..." I repeated, looking up at the sky. "I'll bet that was a really cool sight."

"More beautiful than anything you could ever find on this shitty planet, except of course for the open sky."

"I know what you mean. My chocobo has flown me all around the world, and I've yet to see a better sight than watching the world from high above the ground."

Then he stopped for a moment and turned around.

"Wait a minute? Your chocobo FLIES?"

"That's right," I answered, petting Jamie on the neck. "I trained him myself."

"Heh, well you're gonna have to show me after he's all rested," he said as he turned back around and started walking again, "How 'bout it? I let you spend the night here, you show me how your bird flies, and we'll call it even."

"Ok," I agreed, "But do the other townspeople mind if I stay here?"

"Honestly, I don't give a flying rat's ass what they think," he answered, "They think I'm crazy for being so damn obsessed with flying, but that's my first true love. That's why the Highwind and the Tiny Bronco mean just about everything to me, even if the Bronco is a piece of shit now."

We kept walking towards the house, and I got a good look at the Tiny Bronco. It was severely rusted, probably from floating around in the sea. The wings were loose, and one of the engines was burnt off. It definitely looked like it had seen better days.

"Well, we're here," he said as he opened the door to the house, "Make yerselves at home. Your bird can stay out on the front porch."

"Ok," I turned around and looked up at Jamie, "I think you can figure out where it is, right Jamie?"

"Wark," He nodded and walked away and around the house.

I turned back around and found the door opened.

"Well?" Cid urged, "You coming in or what?"

"I'm coming, I'm coming."

I walked into the door and Cid shut it behind us. Everything in the house was greasy, and the house reeked of cigarette smoke. After letting us in, Cid looked around and seemed annoyed about something.

"Dammit! Where the fuck is she?"

"What is it with him and swearing so much?" I whispered in thought.

"It's to hide his soft side, kupo," Bibble whispered back.

"What little he has of a soft side, anyway," I thought.

He went and opened the front door, and I saw Jamie being petted by a nice-looking young woman with a soft smile on her face.

"SHERA!!!" Cid yelled.

"Oh! Sorry," the woman replied, startled, but still smiling. "I was just wondering where this chocobo came from."

"We have company, Shera," Cid said, "The chocobo belongs to them."

She then looked behind Cid and over to Bibble and me. Her jaw dropped at the sight of us.

"Well don't just stand there gawking, woman!" Cid demanded, "Make our guests some tea!"

"Oh! Yes, sir!" She replied as she rushed over to the stove and quickly placed a full pot of water on it.

Cid then looked over to us, still with that annoyed look in his face.

"Well? Don't stand there! Sit the fuck down and relax!" He yelled pointing at the nearest chair, which was one of two at the table.

I quickly sat down on the chair nearest to me while Bibble sat down on the tabletop. We looked at each other, both rather surprised.

"Let me guess," I thought to Bibble, "He spoke his mind before processing and it caught you by surprise?"

She nodded in reply.

Cid sat down on the chair on the other side of the table from us and put his feet up on the table. He picked up a remote control that was laying on the table and turned on the TV that was on the kitchen counter nearby. The news happened to be on at the moment.

"...was irrelevant," the news anchor said as the sound on the TV came on, he was a serious-looking man with a dull voice, "Our next story talks about an unfortunate group of people suffering from a newly-discovered degenerative disease."

"What kind of shit are they tryin' to feed us here?" Cid remarks, "Shera! Where's the damn tea!"

"It's coming!" she yelled back from the kitchen, walking up a moment later with a tray carrying a teapot and three cups. She served us the tea and went outside. I looked at my cup, not really interested in the newscast.

"You may have encountered these individuals during the Meteor Crisis last year," the news anchor continued, "Many of them were dressed in mysterious black cloaks and uttered the words 'Jenova' and 'reunion'. These people have been dubbed 'Jenova Cases' simply because 'Jenova' was one of the only two words they said."

My ears perked up at the word "Jenova". I then looked back up at the TV 

"No, not more of this shit," Cid said as he began pointing his remote at the TV.

"No wait!" I protested, "This might have information I need!"

"What? You're lookin' for one of 'em?" He asked, still holding up the remote.

"As a matter of fact, yes!" I retorted.

"Agh, fine," he groaned and put the remote down, grumbling as he went.

"Though many of these people died during Meteor," the news anchor continued, "There were many still that managed to live through this terrible time. After Meteor passed, they seemed to have returned to being normal people and have continued living their lives normally, but recently, the Jenova Cases have been suffering from a mysterious illness that has left some of them weak, and some others dead. We take you now to Martha Kibble in the town of Nibelheim, where many of the Jenova Cases lived. Martha."

"Shit, I coulda told you they were all in Nibelheim!" Cid yelled out as he puffed a cloud of cigarette smoke.

The screen switched to a scene of Nibelheim with a young blonde woman in a red suit standing in front of it.

"Right here, Tom," answered the blonde, "It's just tragic what happening to these people, and the other townspeople are doing all they can to help them, but there just doesn't seem to be any cure for this. The only good news is that it was just confirmed that the disease only affects Jenova Cases, so the rest of the human race has nothing to worry about."

"Somehow, that doesn't make me feel better," I replied.

"However, this disease, that some have called the Jenova Virus, is a serious threat to the Jenova Cases. It seems to be a degenerative disease, affecting muscle strength and the aging process. Thus far these are the only known effects of the disease, but it affects each individual differently. In most cases, it weakens and ages the victim to death within a few weeks. In fewer cases, it happens within a few days, but others still have been able to continue living with it, some aging and weakening faster than others. It is not certain why the duration of the Jenova Virus varies so much, but resident doctors will continue studying until a treatment, or even a cure, is found. Back to you, Tom."

None of that story was easy to take in. I'd assumed everything would be alright with Raven since Jenova was gone, but then I realized the urgency of my search.

"I have to go to Nibelheim," I concluded out loud.

"Now?" Bibble asked after sipping her tea, "But Miss Moira, we just got here. And Jamie still needs rest, kupo."

"Then let him rest," I answered, "You stay here with him while I go to Nibelheim."

"Are you fucking crazy?" Cid spoke up, "Nibelheim's on the other side of the damn mountains from here. It would take weeks to walk around it, and only a complete idiot would try to climb it."

"But I have to go there," I insisted.

"Hmph," he scuffed with a crooked smile on his face, "Well, then there's only one option for you, and you wouldn't even have to leave your friends behind."

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.

"Come on and I'll show you."

He got up off the table and walked over to the back door again. I got up and followed, and Bibble floated up and followed me. Cid opened the door and walked outside, and Bibble and I followed close behind. He then stopped and pointed up at the airship.

"It would only take an hour or so if we used the Highwind," Cid said.

"We?" I asked.

"Well, do YOU know how to captain the crew of an airship?"

"Uh, no,"

"Then shut up and let me call the crew."

He pulled out of his pocket a device that looked like a phone. He pushed a button and it beeped before he spoke into it.

"Yes, Captain Cid?" said a voice from the device.

"Get the crew ready for take-off," Cid ordered, "We're heading for Nibelheim."

"Aye, sir."

He then clicked off and looked over at me.

"Well, go get your bird and we'll be off."

"What do you mean go get him?" I asked.

"Well, you're not just gonna leave him here by himself are you? He can rest in the airship. There's a little mini-stable that can hold one chocobo, with a crew member meant for taking care of it."

"You... You'd really do that for me?" I asked.

"Don't waste your fucking time asking me stupid questions. Just get the bird into the airship, and I'll take you to Nibelheim."

"Uh, thank you," I replied and ran around the house to the front, with Bibble floating close behind.

I saw Jamie sitting down on the front porch with his head curled into his back. I went over to his and petted his neck. He lifted his head and turned it to me.

"Wark?" he squawked sleepily.

"We're leaving again, Jamie, except you'll be a passenger on this trip."

"Wark?" he tilted his head in confusion.

"Come on," I urged, "Everyone's waiting."

"Wark."

Jamie got up and followed me around the house and back to the back yard. By the time we got there, Cid was already by the airship, and the engines were already started.

"Wow," I uttered, "That was fast."

"Mr. Cid's a good captain, kupo," Bibble replied, "It was nice of him to offer us a ride to Nibelheim."

"Yeah, considering we're total strangers."

We hurried over to the airship. Cid was waiting for us beside a boarding ramp leading up into the airship. Jamie and I climbed the ramp into the airship, followed by Bibble and Cid. When we got inside, one of the crew quickly took Jamie from me and led him to a small room I couldn't see from where I was.

"The crew wastes no time making the passengers comfortable," Cid remarked, "That's just about the only thing these idiots are good for. Other than that, they're usually screaming for my help."

"Captain Cid!!!" one of the crew screamed from a distance.

"See what I mean?" Cid said to me as he walked over to the bridge, which was where the yelling was coming from. Bibble and I followed close behind.

"Alright, what is it?!" Cid yelled as he walked into the bridge.

"The engines aren't responding, Sir!" a young man at the control console reported, "They won't power up any further. We'll never be able to lift off at this rate."

"Dammit!!!" Cid screamed, "Can't you idiots handle anything by yourselves?!"

He walked over to the console, shoving the crewmember aside. He pulled some levers and pressed some buttons, and then after a few moments, I heard the engines start to make a "whirr" sound.

"There!" Cid said as he finished. "See if you can remember that next time! I don't fucking believe this! You were the crew that flew this airship to the world's salvation only ONE year ago, and you forgot how to work the damn engines?!"

"Sorry, Captain Cid, Sir! It won't happen again, Sir!"

"See that it doesn't!" He then turned around and looked at us, "If you yourselves need rest, there's a crew member upstairs in charge of making the passengers comfortable during our flight. He'll show you to your room. He's usually in the meeting room. It's the one with the big double-doors. You can't miss it."

"Uh, ok," I stuttered as I was quickly escorted out of the bridge and into the main hall again.

I then made my way across the hall and through a set of double-doors, into the meeting room of the airship.

"Who would've thought that an airship would need a meeting room?" I wondered in thought.

"This used to be Shinra's airship, kupo," Bibble answered my thought, "They had meetings during flight."

"You must be the passengers the Captain was talking about," said a voice from the corner.

I turned and found a stout man wearing a blue uniform. He was just standing straight and tall in the corner of the room with his hands behind his back. It occurred to me that it didn't seem like he noticed the way I looked at all. Confused at this, I couldn't help but ask.

"You do know that I'm not human, right?"

"Yup," he answered in a cheerful tone, "But don't worry too much about it. I've seen stranger-looking things than you on this airship, which is why I'm also not surprised at the little mog following you around."

"Uh, I'm a moogle, kupo," Bibble corrected, "It's a common misconception that we're called mogs. Mog was the name of a moogle that helped save the world thousands of years ago, kupo."

"Oh well, I stand corrected. Would you like to rest up while we prepare for take-off?"

"I'd like to see my chocobo first, if you don't mind," I requested, "He was sort of snatched from me when I walked in."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'll take you right to him."

He then began walking over to the door. I followed close behind, with Bibble floating along behind me. He walked out and turned left from the door. We went down the hall and through another door. There I saw a very small, yet cozy stable with plenty of food and water to feed a full-grown chocobo. I then saw Jamie, happily sleeping on some soft hay.

"See?" The stout man said, "Nothing to worry about. Our crew's chocobo keeper checks on the passenger chocobo every fifteen minutes to make sure everything's ok. So I can assure you that your chocobo will be in good hands during our flight."

I was relieved that Jamie was ok. Having everything happen so quickly was stressing, but it turned out that everything was under control, so I finally took a breath and relaxed.

"I think I'm ready to rest now," I said.

"Right this way ladies," the stout man said, leading us out of the little stable and to our resting quarters.

It was a small room, one bed, big enough to house one person, but it was plenty for Bibble and me. Since Bibble was so very small, she could just sleep on my bed somewhere and I wouldn't notice.

"I hope you enjoy the trip," the stout man said as he left us alone in the quarters.

"See, Miss Moira?" Bibble said, "I told you not all towns are bad, kupo."

"The town was still bad," I insisted, "We were let in by the town freak."

"So Mr. Cid's an outcast. So what, kupo?" Bibble bounced back, "At least we found someone kind enough to offer us a ride to the next town, kupo, as well as a place to stay."

"You're right, he really didn't have to do all this. He could've just kicked us out of the launch pad without inviting us in."

"He has his reasons, kupo, but I didn't pry in, so I don't really know what his reasons are."

"I think I'll ask him the next time I get the chance to, but for now, let's get some sleep. I didn't really realize how tired I was until just now."

"I know what you mean, kupo. Traveling a long way nonstop can be tiring, even for a passenger."

I got into the bed, and Bibble cuddled up in the corner of the bed near me.

"Good night, Bibble," I said, even though it was mid-afternoon.

"Good night, Miss Moira," she answered with a yawn.

I then shut the bedside light off and went to sleep.

(One Hour Later)

"Hey Miss Moira, wake up, kupo!" Bibble insisted.

I woke up, disturbed from Bibble's high-pitched voice.

"Uh..." I groaned as I sat up in bed, "What is it?"

"We're here, Miss Moira," Bibble answered, "We've arrived at Nibelheim, kupo."

"What? Great!"

I then found my energy and got out of bed. We hurried out of the room and over to the place where we boarded the ship. Cid was waiting for us at the door, arms crossed, lit cigarette in his mouth.

"Seems like your chocobo wasn't the only thing that needed rest," Cid said as I approached.

"I didn't realize how tired I was from the trip," I replied.

"Well, we'll be parked here until you're ready to go back," he assured me.

"You'll wait for me?" I wondered out loud.

"You still owe me a flying demonstration," he answered, grabbing his cigarette and puffing some smoke. "And that can't happen until your damn bird has the energy to fly. So until then, you can run around Nibelheim lookin' for your Jenova Case. The town entrance is just outside and down the ramp."

"Ok," I answered and started out the door.

"And be careful, alright?" Cid said as I walked out the door, "The people in this town are really weird."

I then walked down the ramp and into the town. Bibble followed close behind me, of course.

It wasn't like any other town I'd been to. There was a small water tower in the center of it and a huge mansion behind it. Even further behind it was a path leading over to the mountain. The entrance to the town looked like the entrance to a farm or a ranch, with a large wooden arch held up on wooden poles.

The atmosphere of the town was dark. There were only a few people outside, and there weren't any children that I could see or hear.

"This town is creepy," I said.

"Is it because of the fact that the townspeople are really hired actors, kupo?" Bibble asked.

"Or at least WERE hired actors," I answered, "That's partly it."

"What's the other part?"

"That mansion behind the town doesn't look like it fits with the rest of the town."

"Well, that's because it's the only part of this whole town that didn't get burnt down six years ago, kupo."

"I guess that would explain why it looks older."

"Let's go look inside, kupo."

"I came here looking for Raven, not to check out a creepy house."

"How do you know there aren't any Jenova Cases inside?"

I couldn't argue with that. I stayed silent for a moment and looked up at the mansion.

"Ok, fine. We'll go in."

"Kupo!"

"But after we check out the rest of the town first."

"Ok."

I looked to my left and saw the Inn and the bar right next door to each other.

"Hmm, this artificial town has a bar," I commented.

"Don't even think about going inside to drink, kupo."

"Just a thought."

"A not-healthy one, kupo."

"Ok, ok, get off my back about it."

"Kupo."

So then it was decided that we'd look in the Inn first.

There were several people in the Inn, many of which were lying sick in bed while the rest were attending to them.

"I guess the ones in bed are the Jenova Cases," I said.

"I'm sorry, Ma'am," said a woman's voice from behind the clerk desk, "But the Inn is not admitting anyone at the moment."

I looked over and saw a young woman in her late teens with brown hair tied in a ponytail. She was constantly chewing on something that looked like gum. She looked at me like I was a normal person, which seemed strange to me. I just sort of stared back.

"In case you're wondering," she answered before I could ask, "I've seen much weirder-looking things than you in this town coming out of that airship. Ugly things, too. At least you're a cool kind of weird."

"Uh... Thanks... I think," I replied uneasily, "Are the people in bed Jenova Cases?" I asked.

"Yes they certainly are."

"Thank you," I said as I walked on into the Inn.

I looked at each of the people in bed, hoping to see a familiar face, but with each bed was another disappointment. I also kept my nose on guard for his scent, but I found no trace of it anywhere in the Inn.

As we were about to leave I looked over at the desk clerk again.

"Couldn't find the one you were looking for?" She asked, chewing her gum.

I just shook my head in disappointment.

"Well, you can try in some of the homes on the other side of town," she suggested. "The people don't mind strangers walking in and out of the houses."

"Still just acting like townspeople?" I scoffed.

"Oh no, we stopped doing that after the whole Meteor thing. After that we decided to just live here like normal people, and the Jenova Cases have been living here with us. But we still play along when the occasional tourist comes to see the place."

"Hmm," I replied.

"But don't let me stop your search," she continued, "Just go on ahead into the houses. Nobody will mind."

"Ok, thanks."

We left the Inn and continued through the town. I looked at the bar again as we passed it.

"I could really use a drink right now," I thought.

"No you don't," Bibble said, "Drinking alcohol is not the answer, kupo. It won't get you any closer to finding Mr. Raven. Or finding a way to help Miss Hikorai."

"No, but it'll certainly make me not feel so awful about this whole thing."

"Well, we haven't finished searching the town yet, kupo," she insisted, "You're giving up too easily."

"Maybe that's true, but I'm tired of coming up empty-handed."

"Let's just keep looking, kupo."

We moved on and searched each of the houses. Like the clerk said, nobody minded. Nobody even gave me a thought. As I walked in, they pretended I wasn't there. They just went along with what they were doing, which in most cases was to take care of the Jenova Case or two that happened to live with them.

Most of the Jenova Cases I saw were too sick to move, though there was a small handful that didn't seem to be affected by the strange sickness. I didn't know some of them were Jenova Cases until it was mentioned in conversations. Even though there were many Jenova Cases in this town, none of them was the one I was looking for.

After searching every house, it seemed the only place left to look was the ever-so-glorious Shinra Mansion.

"Well, this is a long shot if I ever saw one," I said, looking over to the mansion.

"Maybe this is the shot we need, kupo," Bibble replied.

"Maybe."

We followed a path that led through the center of town and towards the mansion and entered the gates into the front yard.

The yard looked like it had been neglected for several years. There was nothing but dirt and dust all around, with only a few specks of dried up grass and a couple of withered trees.

The mansion itself looked worn out. Some of the boards on the walls were falling off, and many of the windows were broken or missing. The windows that weren't broken were too dusty to see through. The front door was loose on its hinges, and it had a couple of holes in it.

"This is the famous Shinra Mansion?" I wondered out loud.

"Yup," Bibble answered.

"It looks like it should be haunted," I commented. "Or maybe have an ongoing thunderstorm around it... Or hundreds of bats flying in and out of it."

"That's a bit clich‚, kupo."

"That's still how this place looks."

I opened the door, and we walked inside. The front door led into a large main hall. It looked like the sort of place you could hold a party, except for the fact that there were several loose floorboards and broken stair steps. There was dust covering everything. I was amazed the floorboards didn't creek as we walked in. To the left was a doorway that led to a room. In front of us was a staircase that went to the upstairs hallway, which went both to the left and right, left leading to yet another room and right leading to another hall with two rooms in it.

"This p-place is sp-pooky, kupo," Bibble said, shaking out of nervousness.

"Well it was your idea to come in here," I spat back. "So now we're gonna search this place from attic to basement."

"But it d-doesn't even look like th-there's even anyone living here, k-kupo."

"But we don't know for sure that there's nobody in here."

With that I walked over to the left to check the room. There wasn't anything but dusty furniture, so I turned around and went up the stairs. I then turned to the left again and went to the room there. This room had an old safe in it, and its door was wide open, revealing that the safe was empty. On the far side of the room was another doorway. I walked over to the doorway and checked out the room there. This room caught my interest when I saw an old piano sitting in it.

I walked in and over towards the piano. Bibble soon entered the room behind me, and then she seemed to have lost her fears when she saw the piano.

"Oo, a piano," she said. "I wonder if it works, kupo."

"I dunno."

"Play it."

"But I don't know how to play the piano."

"Just press the keys to see if they work, kupo."

So I pressed each of the keys on the piano. They all seemed to sound fine, except for two that didn't make a sound when I pressed them.

"Hmm, two of the strings are missing, kupo."

"Is that why it's only making a click sound?"

"Yes, kupo."

"Well, that's enough of my musical talent. Lets move on."

"Ok, kupo," she whined as I turned away from the piano and walked out of the room.

I walked down the hall, passed the stairs, and turned left at the next hall. At the end was a small room with nothing but a bunch of dusty opened treasure boxes, so I turned around and went to the room on the other side of the small hall.

In this room were a chair, a couple of desks, a lamp, and a large bookcase.

"You know, for a mansion, it's a lot smaller than it looks on the outside," I commented, realizing that this was the last room in the building. "Even the library in this place is dinky."

"Maybe there's information in here, kupo."

I walked into the room to look around. Then I noticed a loud creaking sound as soon as I stepped in front of the chair.

"Of all the loose floorboards in this entire house, why does it only squeak here? The board here isn't even loose."

"Maybe it's part of a secret, kupo."

"Yea right."

"But spooky houses ALWAYS have spooky secrets, kupo."

"Ya, but I highly doubt the house's secrets would include something as stupid as having only one creaky floorboard in the whole house. Why would anyone go through the trouble of making it so only this particular board squeaks?"

"You never know, kupo."

"Let's just keep looking."

I kept walking over to the bookshelf on the far side of the room. The shelf itself was filled from top to bottom with books. I skimmed through all the titles, but didn't find anything of interest... That is until I found one titled "Loveless".

"That's weird," I thought out loud. "I didn't think there was a book for this play."

I reached for it and grabbed it, but when I tried to pull it out, the shelf started moving. Startled, I jumped back and watched as the midsection of the bookshelf disappeared behind the rest of it. It revealed a place that didn't have much light.

"Spooky," Bibble said.

"No kidding," I replied, and then stepped through the new doorway.

"Hey, Miss Moira, wait!"

"What?" I replied as I kept walking.

"You don't know what's in there, kupo!"

"So?"

"What if we find something too dangerous to escape from?"

I stopped walking for a moment and looked back at Bibble.

"What are you so worried about? You told me yourself that you're immortal and indestructible."

"Actually, that was a lie, kupo," she confessed, "Death is very possible for me. I only said that because I knew that you wouldn't make a second attempt to kill me if that's what I told you."

"Hey!" I yelled.

It echoed through the new room I was in. I then noticed that the echo was coming from below. I looked down at where I was about to step and found a stairway spiraling downward further than I could see. There was also an eerie green glow coming from below.

"Well, that would've been messy," I said.

"You should've paid attention, kupo. In this dim green light, I'm sure your cat eyes should've caught it."

"I just didn't want to hear your incessant whining anymore," I said as I continued forward and downward.

"Ok, fine, kupo."

She floated downward with me as I stepped down the spiral stairs. After a while, it seemed like it would never end. I looked over the rail to see where the bottom was, but I couldn't see one. I kept going anyway.

"Yeesh, does this thing go on forever or something?"

"There's no such thing as endless stairs, kupo. That's physically impossible."

"Well, I just wish these stairs would hurry up and finish."

It was at least fifteen minutes before we finally hit the bottom of the stairs. I had to sit down at the bottom step and rest a bit before moving on. I looked in front of me and saw a long tunnel.

"So we're gonna have to walk the endless tunnel, too?"

"It was your idea to come down here, kupo."

"Oh, hush," I glared up at her.

After a while, I got up again and started walking through the long tunnel. Thankfully, it wasn't as long as the stairs. It only took half a minute to walk through it. To the left was a closed door, and in front was an opened one. I opened the shut door and found a room full of coffins. All but one of them had skeletons in them. The coffin in the center of the room was empty.

"Ugh!" I eeked in horror.

"I don't wanna see it, kupo, you're thoughts of it are scary enough."

"It's not a pretty sight in there," I answered, quickly shutting the door. "Let's move on, shall we?"

"Must we?"

"Yes."

"...kupo."

We moved away from the closed door and over to the opened one. The doorway led to a large room. To the left were many bookshelves half-filled with books. The books that would've filled the other half were all piled up on the floor. In the middle of the left wall was another hall. The room would've just looked like a messy library if it weren't for the laboratory equipment lining the back wall and the operating table in the center of the room. There was also a very familiar smell, but it wasn't a pleasant one.

"This place reeks of Hojo," I groaned, walking into the room.

"Maybe he used to live here, kupo."

"It just figures that I come here looking for Raven and I end up finding someplace that Hojo's been in. Good thing that bastard's dead."

I continued into the room towards the hall in the middle of the left wall. It was a short hall lined with bookshelves, also half-filled with books while the other half was piled up on the floor. Beyond the hall was a small room that looked like a study. The entire wall was lined with even more half-filled bookshelves, except this time some of the books were piled on the study desk in the center of the room.

Placed at the center of the study table was one book. I walked over to the table and picked up the book.

"The Jenova Project," I read out loud, looking at the cover. I was about to open it when I was startled by a sudden sound.

"Do you need help with something?" Asked a deep voice from behind me.

I dropped the book back onto the desk and turned around. Standing at the other end of the library hall was a tall dark figure wearing a black outfit with a dark red cape draped over his shoulders. Part of his cape stuck up around the neck area, covering the bottom half of his face. He had long, messy jet-black hair, deep red eyes, and a mechanical claw on his left arm.

"I'm guessing you're the creepy resident of this house?" I answered.

"Yea, and I'm guessing that you were one of Hojo's victims," He replied.

"Wait..." I said in surprise, "Huh?"

"This," he waved his claw hand up and down, pointing his finger at me, "Looks very much like something Hojo would do. That and I overheard you mentioning him on your way in here."

"Well, you're right," I replied, "Hojo did this to me."

"That gives us something in common."

"So," I started, "What did he do to you other than give you a mechanical arm and a vampire complex?"

"Running through my veins are the essences of four different monsters. Each of them unique with their own set of power, but all of them mindless killers. Hojo put them there and cursed me with the ability to transform into any one of them. I lose all control until I change back, though I am completely aware of what's going on."

"Four?!" I replied. "Yeesh, and I thought only having one monster transformation was bad. At least you still look somewhat human."

"You have a mindless beast inside you?"

"Well, not really. I'm not completely sure why my transformed body goes through the mindless rage, but I know it has something to do with the mind of the other being inside me.

"So you have two separate minds from two separate beings occupying the same body? How did Hojo accomplish this?"

"Well..." I began as I pulled Hikorai's dead Magecite out from my pocket. "This Magecite piece is the remains of an ancient creature called an esper that died thousands of years ago."

"It looks like it used to have magic in it."

"Hojo sucked everything out of it and fused it into my DNA, which pretty much explains my change in appearance. The soul of the dead esper that was peacefully resting in here is now trapped in my body. Her mind struggles to keep back away from the controls of the body."

"So then the transformation happens when she is unable to keep her mind back?"

"Yea, and after that, both of our minds are tossed around in my head while the monster transformation mindlessly rampages wherever we happen to be... My... hometown was destroyed this way."

There was an awkward silence after this. I then stuck the Magecite back in my pocket.

"So, Mr. Vincent," Bibble spoke up, "What's you're story?"

He looked up at Bibble, eyebrow raised. "First tell me how you know my name."

"Your name is Vincent?" I wondered.

"Yes it is," he answered, "Vincent Valentine."

"Moira Lenore," I answered back. "And Bibble here is a mind-reader. That's how she knew your name."

"Well, before I answer that question, I think we should go upstairs so we can find someplace comfortable to talk about this. We can start talking on the way up."

"Up...? The stairs...?" I dreaded, even though I knew I'd have to eventually go back up the stairs to leave the mansion.

"Remember, kupo, it was your idea to go DOWN the stairs."

"Just shut up, Bibble."

"Well, we could just sit and talk in the room with all the coffins," Vincent suggested.

"Ah! No thanks!" I answered.

With that he turned around and started walking out of the hall. Bibble and I followed close behind. After walking out the door and through the tunnel, we started going up the stairs. He was really quiet for a couple of minutes, and then he started telling his story.

"I once worked for Shinra," he started, "I was one of the Turks. I was twenty-seven hears old. Hojo was head of the science and research department, of course, but back then he worked with a partner. A woman named Lucrecia. They worked together in their experiments."

His story already confused me. Hojo never had a partner when I worked for Shinra, and I never heard of him having one. I also thought that it couldn't have been that long ago because he said he was twenty-seven then, and he didn't look that much older. But I decided to not ask questions and let him continue his story.

"Lucrecia and I spent a lot of time together," he continued, "I was deeply in love with her. I wasn't all that sure she had the same feelings for me because of all the time she spent with Hojo. After a while I discovered one particular experiment that they were working on together, and it disturbed me. The experiment was to inject cells of an ancient being called Jenova into the both of them and attempt to recreate Jenova's son, Sephiroth."

"Recreate Sephiroth?" I thought to myself, trying to make sense of what he was saying. "But Sephiroth was SOLDIER's most famous member, and the guy who nearly destroyed the world."

"When I found out of their plan, I confronted Hojo directly with my objection, expressing my concern for Lucrecia. Hojo obviously didn't want me near her, because he had me captured and brought down here. He took me to his laboratory basement and experimented on me. After he was finished, he left me in a coffin in the next room to rest, to think, and to suffer. I stayed there until one day a group of people wandered in here, looking for clues to find Sephiroth. They ended up finding me. They also mentioned going after Hojo, so I joined them, and together we ended up saving the world."

"How long did you have to wait in that coffin?" I wondered out loud as we neared the top of the stairs.

"I think it was thirty years," he answered.

"What?!" I stopped climbing on hearing the number. "Thirty?! But you..."

"Don't look fifty-eight?" He finished my sentence for me, as he stopped and looked back at me. "I'm pretty sure it's because Hojo wanted me to suffer until the end of time and made sure that I would. The only part of me that keeps growing is my hair."

"Well, at least now your story makes more sense," I replied as we finished climbing the stairs, "In all the time I was in Midgar working for Shinra, I never heard anything about Hojo having a partner, even the people that worked for Shinra before me."

"It took place before Midgar was built," Vincent asked. "Back when Shinra was based here in Nibelheim. What was your position in Shinra?"

"I was a security guard. I guarded President Shinra's meeting room door. Then Hojo, taking advantage of how bored I was of my job, offered me a job guarding his lab. Of course, like an idiot, I accepted, went to do the job, and got myself captured and experimented on. Except in my case, he just wanted someone he could stuff all the Magecite magic into, and instead of a coffin for thirty years, he put me in a giant tank for several months. I woke up just in time to see Meteor come down."

We walked out of the bookshelf staircase and into the room with the chair. As Vincent passed in front of the chair, the floorboard squeaked.

"Say," I began, "Why is it that that's the only floorboard in the entire house that squeaks?"

"It was part of a game," Vincent answered, "One of several clues that led to the combination to open a safe which contained the key to open the door to the room in the basement I was sleeping in. The group of people that wandered in here followed the clues and found me in the end. They later told me about how they found me with all these clues."

"See, kupo? I told you it was part of a secret."

"Uh-huh." I said in a dull tone, not wanting to admit she was right.

"Another of the clues had something to do with the piano in the room downstairs," he continued.

"Could be why two of the notes are missing," I replied.

"I think that's what it was," he said, "At any rate each clue led to one of the three numbers in the safe's combination."

"Weird."

"Hojo didn't think anyone would actually be smart enough to figure out his clues and riddles, so he left them hidden in a pot in another room downstairs."

We started walking down the stairs to the first floor of the mansion. After reaching the bottom step of the stairs, Vincent turned around and looked at me.

"Out of curiosity," he started, "What brought you all the way down to my basement?"

"I'm looking for someone very important to me," I answered. "He's a Jenova Case, and I heard that many of them were living here in Nibelheim. I searched all over the town, but couldn't find him. This mansion seemed to be my only other option."

"You must've also heard of this so-called 'disease' that's started to affect them."

"You sound like you know something about it," I replied.

"I know that it's not a disease," he answered.

"Do you know what's causing it?"

"All I know is that it is a side effect of the dead Jenova cells floating around in their bodies," he answered, "And that the severity of the 'disease' depends on the amount of Jenova cells injected into them. The more Jenova cells they carried, the faster it takes affect."

"And... How exactly do you know this?"

"I know Hojo that well," he said, narrowing his red eyes.

He then turned back around and continued down the stairs.

"I'm sorry you weren't able to find who you were looking for," he said as he continued away from the stairs and into the room on the right.

"I've pretty much gotten used to coming up empty-handed by now," I answered. "I've been searching for a year and haven't found anything, and I've pretty much been everywhere on this planet."

"If you keep searching, you're sure to find something, whether it be him or a clue that he's been there," he assured me, walking over to a cabinet on the far side of the room, "Though I'm pretty sure you don't want to show your face in public. I know I didn't when I left this mansion, and my appearance wasn't altered nearly as much as yours."

"Well, you're right," I answered.

"Then take this," he answered, pulling out a large black cloak and tossing it to me. "The Jenova Cases left them here after Meteor passed, since they were sure they could live normal lives again."

I caught it and stared at it for a while. I held it out in front of me, letting it hang to let me see what it looked like.

It was a plain cloak with a hood. There was nothing special about it. It was made of a thick heavy material that felt like it would be comfortable to wear in most conditions.

"It's..." I stuttered, still staring at the cloak in my hands, "...big."

"You want to cover yourself up, don't you?"

I couldn't deny that he was right, so I put the cloak on without further hesitation. It wasn't as heavy as I thought it was going to be, and easier to put on than I expected. Being so big, I thought I'd end up getting caught halfway through it, but it ended up fitting me perfectly, with the bottom of the cloak barely touching the floor.

"Do you really think a cloak is necessary, kupo?" Bibble asked, breaking her silence.

"I know what it's like to formerly be human and feel lost among what used to be your own kind," he answered, "I'm just trying to help soften her journey by giving her a disguise."

"Besides," I continued, "If I transform again, I don't want people to know what my face looks like. I might end up with a bounty on my head, and probably a big one."

"Do people even DO that nowadays, kupo?"

"I don't know, and I don't want to find out," I answered, and then looked over to Vincent, "Thanks."

"No problem," Vincent replied and started walking away from the cabinet and out of the room.

"Travel safely," he said as he started up the stairs. "I hope you eventually find what you're looking for."

"Sure," I answered, "And thanks again for the cloak."

He then disappeared into the bookroom, leaving Bibble and me by ourselves.

"Well, that was certainly interesting, kupo," Bibble said.

"Yea," I agreed, "I didn't think anyone but me and the Jenova Cases were victims of Hojo's twisted schemes."

"Well, now you've found someone you have something in common with, kupo."

"Yup," I then turned around and walked to the front door, "I think it's time to leave now."

"Ok, kupo," she said as she floated along behind me.

We left the mansion and again walked through the town. I looked up and noticed that the sun was getting ready to go down.

"We took longer than I thought," I pointed out.

"Those stairs WERE very long, kupo."

"Yea yea, don't remind me," I groaned.

As we kept walking, I again saw the bar and again craved a drink.

"Miss Moira," Bibble groaned, sensing my craving.

"Can you really blame me, Bibble?" I groaned back, "I haven't had a beer in more than a year, and I really miss the taste of it. Though more than that, I miss losing myself in it."

"That's exactly why we shouldn't go in, kupo. Your old drinking habits keep trying to kick back, and I know how grumpy you get when you're drunk compared to how grumpy you are when you're sober."

"Ugh, fine," I accepted as we kept going to the entrance of town.

When we got there, Cid was waiting for us by the main archway at the entrance, smoking another cigarette.

"Couldn't find anything, eh?" He asked as I came walking up, puffing smoke with each word he spoke.

"No," I answered, "But I did get this cloak, so the trip wasn't a total loss."

"Well, get back aboard the ship so we can head back," he said as he turned around and started walking towards the Highwind.

When we got into the airship, I immediately headed to the chocobo room to see how Jamie was doing. When I saw that he was still peacefully sleeping, I stepped back out and headed over to the meeting room, all the while with Bibble following.

"Are you ready to go back to your quarters?" The man standing inside asked.

"Actually no," I answered. "I was just wondering where the outer deck was."

"Ah, you want to enjoy the view outside?"

"Yes, I think I'd like to enjoy the flight this time around."

"Well, follow me," he said and walked out the door. Bibble and I then followed.

He turned right after exiting the room and kept going in that direction to the other side of the walkway. He then turned right again, going through a doorway and up some stairs. At the top of the stairs was a shut door. He opened it, revealing the deck outside.

"Here you are," he announced and held the door open for us while we walked out through it.

"Thanks," I said.

"You're welcome. Just call on me if you need anything else."

He then went back into the door and down the stairs. After he was out of sight, I turned around and leaned on the railing, looking down at the ground. The ground looked really far down, even though we hadn't taken off yet. I lifted my head up and looked over at the town of Nibelheim.

"I really do wonder if this search is worth it, Bibble?" I blurted. "I wonder if I'll ever find him. If he's even still alive."

"You shouldn't give up, kupo," she answered, "And besides, it's not just Mr. Raven we're looking for, 'member?"

"Yea, I know. But that seems even more impossible. I don't even know what I'm doing as far as that search is concerned. I mean what the hell am I supposed to do with this Magecite?"

I pulled the Magecite out of my pocket again and stared at it.

"I don't know, Miss Moira, but you really should stop thinking like that."

"I know... But what else can I do?"

"You can think about what you DO have instead of what you don't, kupo."

"Really? And what DO I have?"

"Friends."

I smirked at this, mostly because I expected an answer like that out of her. I took a deep breath and sighed, putting the Magecite piece back into my pocket.

A few seconds afterwards, the ship gave a shake as the engines kicked into motion. I looked down and watched as the ground moved further and further away. After a few short moments, we were flying over Mt. Nibel, just north of the town.

Looking over the mountains, I spotted a small building sitting ontop of it. I recognized it to be a mako reactor, similar to the ones in Midgar, except this one looked like it hadn't been used in several years.

As we passed the mountain and over the mako reactor, I heard footsteps coming from behind me. I turned around and saw Cid walking up to where I was. This time he had an unlit cigarette in his mouth.

"Not a bad view, is it?" he asked as he came up next to me and leaned backwards on the rail.

"It's wonderful," I answered, "Much higher up than my chocobo ever flew."

"The Highwind's top class," he bragged, "There ain't a damn thing on this planet that can outfly this baby. We even chased down the Ultima Weapon, and he was a fast son of a bitch. But we managed to keep up with 'im and in the end beat the shit out of 'im. Sure this crew's a bunch of idiots, but they get the job done when it really comes down to it. I wouldn't trust anyone else with this ship."

He pushed himself off the rail and turned around to face the wind, which was blowing to his back when he was leaning on the rail.

"Why did you help me?" I asked. "Why did you go through all this trouble just to get me to Nibelheim?"

"You and I have something in common."

"What do you mean? What do we have in common?"

"When you fly on your chocobo, dontcha feel a sense of total freedom? Like nothing can bring you down? With the wind in your face and the clouds looking so close, you feel like could almost touch 'em. And when you land, it's like you're waking up from a dream, the kind that you don't really want to wake up from."

I was left speechless as he just spilled out his feelings about flying. It was strange because I did feel a lot of that whenever I flew with Jamie. After a moment, Cid looked at me and half-smiled.

"Well, do ya?"

"Your description is pretty close," I answered.

"I know it is. You know how I feel. You understand my obsession. You know what it's like. And most of all, you know what it's like to ride the wind without the use of a machine. The closest thing I've ever come to that is skydiving off the Highwind to get inside of Midgar. You actually have that on a regular basis, and I admire that. That's why I helped you."

"It seems like a silly reason to help someone like me."

"What, that we have flying in common? It ain't silly to someone who loves flying as much as I do. Besides, you seemed dead set on going to Nibelheim, and I agreed to let your chocobo rest where you needed him to on the condition that you'd show me how he flies. You can't give me the demonstration if you're still climbing over the damn mountain to get to Nibelheim, so I figured I'd make your trip faster."

"Well, thanks for everything," I said, "Before today I'd never actually been on an airship. And now I have more information to help me with my search."

"I hope you find the person you're looking for," he said as he turned back around and started walking back to the door downstairs. "Looking for any particular person in this world can be a pain in the ass, unless he's so fucking famous that everyone has tabs on him."

"Heh, well unfortunately for me, the closest thing to famous is that the one I'm looking for is a Jenova Case."

"Well, at least you have a way of narrowing your search."

He then disappeared through the door and down the stairs. I leaned onto the rail again and watched the scenery go by as the sun went down and the world was covered in dark.

(One Hour Later)

Toward the end of the flight, when Rocket Town came into view, I decided to go back below deck and see how Jamie was doing. When I walked in, I saw that he was happily crunching on some greens that were set in front of him. I walked up to him, with Bibble floating behind me, and I patted him on the head. Startled, he twitched and looked up. Realizing it was me, he nuzzled his head against me.

"Hey, good evening," I greeted with a chuckle, "Did you have a good rest?"

"Wark," he answered happily.

"That's good, because after this airship lands, we'll be heading out of here."

"Aren't you gonna show Mr. Cid how Jamie flies, kupo?" Bibble asked.

"Of course I will," I replied, "We'll be flying out of here."

"But it's too dark to see anything, kupo."

"The launch pad has powerful lights," I answered, "And so does the airship. He should be able to see us take off if he turns either of them on before we leave."

"That sounds like a plan to me."

"Wark," Jamie agreed.

I felt a jolt as the airship hit the ground.

"I guess it's time to go," I announced.

Then the three of us walked out of the room and towards the exit. Cid stood there by the closed door, arms crossed, waiting for us. We stopped right in front of him.

"I guess you're leaving now?"

"Yes," I answered, "But I still have to give you your demonstration."

"I have all the lights on the Highwind set to maximum. I'll be able to see it perfectly from here."

He then pounded on a button on the wall next to the door, and the door started to slide open. As it opened, I was nearly blinded by the bright light that came from the other side of it. After my eyes adjusted, I saw the ground lit up for several hundred feet in front of me. The lights were so bright that I couldn't see anything that was in the sky. I looked over at Cid and paused a moment.

"Thanks again for everything," I said, "I wish I could give you something more than just a flying demonstration as I'm leaving."

"Believe me, kid. Seeing a chocobo fly is thanks enough for me. Now beat it! I hate long goodbyes!"

"Alright, Bye then."

I then led Jamie out the door and mounted him right afterward.

"Bye, Mr. Cid!" Bibble called and waved as she sat down in front of me on Jamie's back.

"You ready Jamie?"

"Wark," he answered as he positioned his wings in preparation for the runway.

"Alright, let's go!"

Jamie then sprinted down the ramp and began flapping his wings. After a few seconds we were in the air and soaring high above the ground. I looked back and saw Cid still watching us leave. We were already so far off, he looked like a small toy figurine. I waved over to him, saying the last goodbye to him. He waved back, but only for a couple of seconds. I turned back around and again saw the clouds and the stars in the sky. I looked down at Bibble and noticed she was looking up at me.

"Is something wrong?" I asked.

"Shouldn't you start wearing that hood, kupo?" she asked, "If you're gonna start going around in disguise, you should cover your head, too."

"You're right," I answered, "I'll pull it up the next time we land. It would be a pain to try that right now with all this wind."

"The next town we spot, kupo, we'll land far enough away for you to put the hood on before we go in."

"Where IS the next town?"

"I dunno. I don't even know what direction we're going in, kupo. Maybe if we fly far enough, we'll find something."

"Maybe, or maybe we'll just find more mountains."

"Then we'll know we're going in some form of south, kupo, cuz that's where all the mountains are."

"Well, we'll just have to find out."

We stayed quiet after that, just enjoying the flight, feeling the wind and watching the clouds pass by with the moon drifting along. I let myself go and felt the freedom that Cid was talking about. The freedom I always felt when flying on Jamie's back. It was the only time I felt like I could just let all my troubles go, letting the wind take them to wherever it chose to. So I did. I forgot my sadness, my grief, my stress, and for that moment, I actually felt happy.


	13. Ch 11: Medieval Times

**Chapter XI**

**Medieval Times**

(3 Years Later) Year 4 After Midgar

We were flying over the desert in the eastern section of the Western Continent, the same desert where both the Gold Saucer (and the Corel Prison below the Gold Saucer) was located. The winds were working with us, making it so we could go faster without Jamie working so hard. The only problem was the noise it was making, as well as the sand that it kicked up. It not only got in my eyes, but it also stuck to my fur and all over my cloak. Bibble didn't seem too comfortable with the sand, either.

"Can we fly somewhere where there isn't so much sand?" Bibble yelled through the sound of the wind, covering her face with her tiny moogle hands, "It's scraping my pom-pom, kupo!"

"It's too late to turn back!" I yelled back, "We're already halfway through the desert!"

"We could've just gone around it, kupo!"

"And you tell me that I complain too much!"

I then noticed a small dark object in the sand ahead of us.

"What's that?" I wondered out loud.

"What's what?" Bibble wondered back and looked in the direction I was looking. "Oh, that! I dunno, kupo! Maybe we should go find out!"

"Good idea!"

I directed Jamie over to the dark spot. As we got closer, it started to look like some sort of structure. After we got even closer I realized that it was much larger than just a small speck.

"A castle in the middle of the desert?" I pointed out.

"A castle?" Bibble repeated, "Hey! I think I've seen that place before, kupo!"

"It looks huge," I replied, "Why isn't this place on the world map?"

"I dunno, kupo! But I think we should go check it out!"

"What if they're not friendly?"

"Then we'll run away, kupo!"

"Or fly away, whatever comes first!"

The castle was enclosed, so if we were going inside, we'd have to go in through the door. We swooped down and landed in front of the gigantic doors of the castle. The wind wasn't very strong where we landed, so the sand didn't bother us too much. The doors were large double doors.

"So where've you seen this place before, Bibble?"

"I don't remember, kupo," she answered, "But this place looks very familiar."

"HALT!" yelled a male voice from the other side of the door, "WHO GOES THERE!"

"Such a dorky line," I thought to myself.

"I think we should answer him, kupo," Bibble whispered to me.

"Uh... My name is Moira!" I yelled back, "Um... We come in peace!"

"And my name's Holly Bibble, kupo!"

"Kupo? A moogle?" The man yelled back, "Come on in, then! Moogles and their friends are always welcome!"

There was a loud boom before the doors started to open.

"Ok, that was really weird," I said and looked down at Bibble, who was still sitting in front of me on Jamie's back, "That welcome came a bit too easily."

"I don't think there's danger here, kupo," Bibble answered my worry, "There's no hostility here. And everyone near here seems to like moogles."

"I wonder if they'll think the same about me. I'm keeping my hood down just in case."

We moved forward and through the door, still riding on Jamie's back. We went through the doors and past some archways with gates wide open. We then rode through what appeared to be a town. There were many stone buildings, many of which were residential. After passing this area, the way through suddenly became crowded as we entered the marketplace. There were people hustling and bustling through shops and markets. Many stopped and stared at us, of course, but it wasn't in fear or disgust. They actually looked excited to see us.

"Well, this is certainly a change," I said to Bibble in thought. "These people actually seem happy to see us."

"They're mostly just staring at me, kupo," she whispered to me, "It seems to me like they've all seen moogles before."

"Strange," I thought, "I'd think I'd be the one grabbing all the attention with my creepy black cloak."

"They don't think you look so threatening with me here, kupo. They believe that anyone who hangs around with a moogle can't be evil."

"That's even weirder," I thought.

We finally made our way through the market and into another archway, which led to another large entrance.

We entered and ended up in a large courtyard. There were long white walkways going in four different directions. Where there wasn't a walkway, there was lush green grass as well as other assorted plants. There were large trees with beautiful pink blossoms falling off of them. There were also shrubs and bushes cut in various decorative shapes. Some looked like chocobos, others looked like moogles, and some others looked like cactuars, which were small cactus-like creatures that were physically very stiff, but also very tough to fight.

"Wow," I spoke up, in awe of the courtyard garden.

"Pretty," Bibble agreed.

As I looked around, I noticed a middle-aged man marching towards us. He stopped just a few feet from us and bowed.

"Greetings, friends," The man greeted, "Welcome to New Figaro."

"New Figaro?" I repeated, "It still exists?"

"Of course," he answered, "You thought otherwise?"

"Well, I was actually under the impression that it was completely destroyed into dust or something, because there's not even mention of any ruins on any map."

"Well, of course not," the man laughed, "New Figaro Castle is mobile, able to burrow underground through the sands, and we rise up in any desert nearest our target."

"...You do realize that this is the only hot sandy desert in the world, right?"

"Yes, but it did not used to be," he replied, "Thousands of years ago, there were two deserts, but the other somehow disappeared. And since this is the only desert now, we didn't think it necessary to go underground very much."

"Ok..."

There was a long awkward silence after that. We just sort of stared at each other for a few moments before the man blinked and turned around.

"The King requests your presence in the throne room," He said, pointing his hand at the big, red double-doors at the end of the center walkway.

"Really...?" I replied uneasily, "The King..."

"Yes, he wishes to see the moogle and her friend."

"Kupo," Bibble replied.

"Follow me," the man said as he started walking down the walkway.

I got off Jamie, and Bibble flapped her wings to fly off his back and follow me. I followed the man down the walkway with Jamie and Bibble following close behind.

He approached the doors and they seemed to open by themselves as he started walking through them. As I walked through them, I realized that there were two men holding the doors.

I looked ahead and saw a long red carpet lain on the ground, leading to a set of steps that went up to a platform with two tall chairs on the other side of the room. The room itself was huge. I could barely see the other side, so I could barely tell that the objects on the other side were chairs, or rather, thrones.

We approached the thrones, and I noticed that only one of them was occupied. A young man sat in the throne to my right. He wore a dark blue coat with a dark green trim and gold on all the edges. His pants were the same dark blue, and he had black boots that went up just above his ankles. He had light blue eyes, blonde chin-length hair, and a well-groomed moustache and goatee combo.

He sat with his right ankle crossed over his left knee. He leaned his body heavily on the right arm of his throne. He kept his head on his right hand, while resting his other hand on his ankle that was crossed over his leg. He looked over at us, stroking his chin with his thumb and index finger.

We stopped a few feet away from the steps that led up to the throne. Bibble landed on the floor in front of me and bowed before the king. Jamie and I followed the example and bowed.

"My friends," The young king spoke and stood up from his throne, "Welcome to New Figaro."

We straightened up and looked up at the king.

"Hello, kupo," Bibble greeted back. "Thank you for inviting us in."

"Think nothing of it. I love moogles," he replied, "I know how good-natured you are. In fact, I have a moogle as my advisor."

"You do?" I wondered out loud.

"Yes, I do," he answered, "Today is his day off, so he is not with me at the moment. But we can discuss that later. For now, I would like to know the names of my guests."

"I'm Holly Bibble," Bibble answered, "And this is my friend, Miss Moira, and her chocobo, Jamie."

"Holly, Moira, and Jamie," he repeated, looking at each of us respectively. "I am King Edgar Blade Figaro the Seventeenth. Everyone here just calls me Your Highness, but you ladies can call me Edgar. You are welcome to stay here as long as you like. But I have one request."

"What's that?" I asked.

"I would like that you take off your hood," he said, pointing at me.

"What?!" I burst.

"You need not hide your face when in the company of such a noble creature as a moogle, especially not in New Figaro."

"But I'd rather not..."

"Oh, come on now. A lady with such a lovely voice and a beautiful-sounding name should not be hiding her face under such a dark hood."

"I like my privacy, thank you," I insisted, grumbling as I caught his flirt.

"Oh well, no matter," he replied, "I'll just keep insisting until you do."

"Then I'll just leave," I replied.

"Where will you go?" He threw back.

"Away from here," I answered, "My chocobo can fly pretty far."

"Fly?" He repeated in surprise, "That's a rare ability for a chocobo. He must've flown rather far already to have gotten here in the middle of the desert. He surely must be in need of rest, or at least a bit of sleep."

I looked up at Jamie, and he looked down at me. He wasn't terribly exhausted, but he didn't look completely awake either. I didn't want to admit the king was right.

"Damn," I submitted, "I guess I don't have much choice, do I?"

"Don't worry, Miss Moira," Bibble said, looking up at me from where she was standing on the floor, "He's not that tired, so he wouldn't have to rest all that long."

"Yeah, and then what excuse will he make to get us to stay?"

"Oh, believe me, you are free to go when your chocobo is rested," He assured me, "However, I will not stop nagging about your hood."

"Miss Moira, why don't you just take it off now so you won't have to deal with that, kupo? He actually will let us go after Jamie is rested, but he's also serious about bothering you about the hood, kupo."

"Ugh, fine," I groaned and lowered the hood, "There. Happy now?"

I was expecting a shocked reaction from him, but instead he raised his right eyebrow and curled up the left corner of his mouth.

"An esper woman," he commented with a satisfied grin on his face, "Better than I thought. And I was under the impression that the esper race was extinct."

"They ARE extinct, Genius," I spat at him, "I used to be human."

"Well, you are still quite sexy, if I do say so myself," he replied, looking me up and down, "And that is just from seeing your face. I am wondering what the rest of you looks like under that cloak."

I glared at him for a moment before saying anything.

"Bibble, we're leaving now," I said after that moment and turned around to walk away, immediately putting my hood back on.

"But Miss Moira, What about Jamie?"

"We'll stay outside the castle for a while, and then we'll fly away."

"Miss Moira," Bibble called as I kept walking away.

She then flew up behind me.

"Please don't be so hard on Mr. Edgar, kupo," Bibble insisted, "He can't help what he says."

"That's right, he's one of those hormone-driven idiots who waste their time looking for a sleeping partner, so they say what their testosterone tells them to."

"This behavior runs in his family, kupo," she explained, "It's a common trait in the Figaro family. It's in his blood to try to get a girl's attention."

"He got my attention, alright, and made me want to scratch right across his royal pretty-boy face."

The discussion stopped there for a while. I was glad that it did too, because I was getting tired of talking about it. When we reached the marketplace, I noticed that everyone was rushing around worse than when we came in. And among the jumble I could hear people saying something about running for shelter.

"What's going on?" I wondered out loud.

"I dunno, kupo," Bibble replied, "Too many panicking minds all in one place."

"Fine, I'll just stop someone and ask."

I then grabbed a random man that was scrambling around. He was holding a bunch of rolled-up blankets when I grabbed him, and he dropped all of them as soon as I did.

"AH!" He screamed, "Oh, it's you. The person with the Moogle."

"Yeah, that's me. Now what's going on?"

"There's a huge sandstorm coming, so everyone has to hurry up and get home so they can be sheltered. So we have to quickly pack up all our markets as fast as we can so we don't lose anything."

I felt my face immediately go stiff, and my left ear started twitching under my hood.

"You're kidding...?" I droned and let go of the guy.

"Nope, and it'll be here any minute," he said as he started picking up his blankets again, "So you should go find shelter fast. It also looks like this storm will last at least a few days, so I might suggest you stay with the King. He always has enough room and food to support guests for more than one day."

He then turned back and scrambled away.

It felt like my brow was going to suddenly fall off from how hard I was pressing it down. I waved my hands up in the air and looked over at Bibble.

"What the hell?!" I blurted.

"Um... coincidence?" Bibble replied.

"Some freak of nature coincidence is forcing me to stay here!"

"You knew there were a lot of sandstorms in this desert, kupo. They happen very often, so it shouldn't be THAT surprising to you."

"Yes, except that it had to be timed exactly when I was thinking of leaving!"

"Well, why don't we just go back, kupo?"

"We might as well," I groaned and crossed my arms in front of me. "Ugh, what a day this has been."

We turned around and went back to the throne room, where King Edgar sat on his same throne in the same position as before. I took off my hood and looked up at him.

"Decided to come back and stay a bit?" He asked as we walked up.

"I'm only staying because there's a sandstorm coming," I groaned.

"At any rate, you came back, and I am glad," he replied and stood up from his throne again, "I'd like to apologize for my conduct earlier. It was REALLY inappropriate, especially since we've only just met. Why don't we get to know each other over dinner?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed in exasperation, though the sigh sounded more like a growl.

"Or... If you'd rather," He continued before I could say anything, "If you are in need of rest, my servants can show you to the guest quarters and take your chocobo to the stables. After that, if you are hungry, you can meet me in the dining hall? ...Maybe? Even if it is only for a few minutes? I truly am interested in knowing more about you."

I glared at him for a moment, pondering that offer. I didn't really want to have dinner with him.

"Will we be on opposite sides of the table?" I replied.

"As far away from me as you need to be comfortable. I would be happy just to eat in the same room as you, and to at least be close enough to have a conversation with you and little Holly. My moogle advisor will also be there. I'm sure he would love to meet you, and especially Holly."

I looked over at Bibble for a moment while I thought. I could tell she wanted so badly for me to say yes, obviously to meet this other moogle. She looked at me with glittering sad eyes, at least as far as I could tell from her slit-shaped eyes.

"Fine," I agreed.

"Kupo!" Bibble squealed, clapping her hands together.

"Excellent," Edgar replied, "I'll see to it that you are made comfortable."

He then snapped his fingers, and a man and a woman appeared from what seemed like nowhere.

"Willamina will care for your chocobo during your stay," Edgar said as the woman came up and took Jamie. "And Dirk will show you ladies to your room."

"Thank you, Mr. Edgar," Bibble said.

Dirk then started walking, and we followed him all the way to the guest rooms. He opened one of the doors and showed us in.

It was certainly a room that could rival the best of the inns I'd stayed at before then. It had one bed on the left side of the room and a small round table with three chairs on the right side. There were three windows on the wall opposite of the door. They all were an arch shape filled with a very thick glass.

"Why is the glass in the windows so thick?" I wondered out loud.

"They are a special design to withstand the high pressures underground," Dirk answered. "Reinforced with earth magic to withstand the abuse of the rocky walls of the tunnels this castle travels through."

I walked over and looked outside the window. There was a lot of sand blowing towards us, but I could still see a little bit of the sky, which had started to turn pink and orange.

"Enjoy your stay, ladies," Dirk said, holding the door open for us.

"Thanks," I droned and walked inside, Bibble walking behind me.

He then shut the door and left Bibble and me alone. I then took off my cloak and laid it on the table. I went over to the bed and flopped down onto it, face first.

"I suppose a bit of sleep wouldn't hurt," I said with my voice muffled through the pillow my face ad landed on.

"Yeah, kupo, let's sleep," Bibble agreed and hopped up onto the bed with me.

"Any particular reason why you're walking instead of floating around?"

"To look more formal, kupo. In moogle customs, it's more respectful to stand on the ground than to hover in the air."

"Hmm," I replied.

I then made myself comfortable on the bed and shut my eyes.

(A Few Hour Later)

I could hear the wind whistling and the sand scraping on the window outside as I quietly lay on my back on the bed. Bibble sat on the edge of the bed to my left with her legs hanging off the edge and kicking in rhythm. I stared at the ceiling, studying each crevice in the wooden beams that formed it and held it up. It was getting late, and I was getting bored. I was too busy thinking of how to avoid going to dinner, I couldn't get a wink of sleep.

"Miss Moira?" Bibble said and looked up at me, "Why don't you just go to dinner with Mr. Edgar, kupo, instead of stressing yourself on how to not go?"

"Because," I answered.

"Because Mr. Edgar's a big flirt?"

"Doesn't take a mind-reader to figure that out."

"You shouldn't be so mean to him, kupo. All you have to do is tell him about Mr. Raven."

"Hmm," I replied, not really listening. I'd found a crevice in the ceiling that was shaped like a boat and was contemplating what else it could look like.

"Miss Moira, come on!" Bibble scolded, realizing that I wasn't listening. "Let's just go to dinner and get it over with. You've got to be starved by now, kupo. We haven't had anything to eat since before we flew into the desert."

That's when my stomach started growling at me.

"Now see what you did, Bibble?" I said, rubbing my stomach, "Now my stomach's nagging at me."

"I'd say that's a sign to go eat, kupo."

"Fine," I replied and sat up, "Let's go to the stupid dinner."

"Kupo!" Bibble squealed and jumped off the bed and onto the floor.

I then turned and stood up from the bed.

"Let's see if we can figure out where the dining hall is," I said and started walking to the door.

"Or the nearest person, kupo, so we can ask directions."

"That too."

I opened the door and let Bibble out before me. She walked, of course. After she was past the door, I shut it behind us.

(A couple of hours of wandering later…)

"This castle is frickin' huge!" I groaned, looking down the lantern-lit hallway. The lanterns all looked like they were lit with some sort of magic. The hallway looked exactly the same as the last hallway we went through, which coincidently looked like the one before that… and the one before that…. and the one before that.

"Maybe we'll find something at the end of this hallway, kupo."

"You said that three hallways ago," I groaned. "Can't you just sense the nearest mind to us so we can ask for directions?"

"There's interference, kupo. I'm having trouble finding the nearest person."

"I still can't believe we haven't found anybody. We've been through eight hallways, two music rooms, a library, several large doors, and up and down three flights of stairs. Just where the hell is everybody?"

"Maybe they're sleeping, kupo. It is nighttime, you know."

"We should've at least run into a guard or something by now. Somebody has to be awake patrolling the castle."

"Patrolling for what, kupo?"

"I dunno, intruders or something," I looked down at Bibble.

"Intruders in the middle of the desert?"

"It could happen."

I then looked up and saw a big lantern in my face. I moved aside to look around the lantern and saw a guard.

"See, Bibble? I told you," I then looked at the guard, "Hey, we got lost looking for the dining hall."

"I'll say you're lost," the guard replied, "You're on the exact wrong side of the castle. The King was starting to wonder what had happened. Since you weren't in your room and your chocobo was still in the stable, he concluded that you were lost in the castle, so he sent me to find you."

"How long ago was this?"

"About twenty minutes ago," he answered.

"How did you find us so quickly?" I asked in surprise.

"I followed your voices through the halls."

"Kupo," Bibble replied.

"Now, if you will follow me, the King is waiting for you in the dining hall."

(Fifteen Minutes Later)

When we finally arrived at the dining hall, I was amazed at how big it was. It was a very long room, mostly. A very long table, around thirty or so feet long, occupied it. There wasn't anything on the table but plates, cutlery, and a few lit candelabras. There was also light coming from lanterns on the wall and chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. Edgar was pacing in the corner, but then stopped when we came in. He looked up and then came to meet us.

"That was quick," he said looking to the guard that escorted us.

"I told you I could find them, Sire," he replied, "The esper woman has a loud voice when she is complaining. It was all a matter of pinpointing where her voice was coming from."

"Hey!" I objected. "I'm not THAT loud!"

"Yes you are, kupo."

"Shut up, Bibble."

"All that matters is that you're here now," Edgar said and then turned to the guard, "Thank you, Jim. You may go back to your post."

"Yes, Your Highness," he replied with a bow and walked out of the room.

"Please ladies, have a seat," Edgar said, motioning his hand to the table. "Dinner will be here shortly. As will my advisor. He is very anxious to meet Holly."

"And I'm anxious to meet him, kupo," Bibble said while we walked over to the table. "It's been a while since I've seen another moogle."

"You mean since that 'mail moogle' that showed up out of nowhere a year ago?"

I sat down on the chair closest to the end of the table. Bibble sat next to me. Edgar sat across the table from me.

"Yeah, the Mognet Messenger," Bibble replied as she sat down, "He's the last moogle I've seen, kupo."

"It'll certainly be a happy reunion," Edgar said.

"Reunion?" I repeated, "How do you know they've met before?"

"All moogles come from the same village," he explained, "Traveling with a moogle as long as you have, she must've mentioned Kupo Village to you at least once. My advisor speaks of it on a regular basis."

"Actually, she doesn't tell me much about herself."

"How odd," he replied.

"Well, it's mostly because we're too busy concentrating on Miss Moira, kupo. I want to help Miss Moira as much as I can, and talking about my life doesn't seem to be the way to do it."

Then a creaking noise came from behind us.

"Holly?" called a somewhat squeaky male voice from behind and to the right of me, "Holly Bibble?"

Bibble and I turned around to see this moogle. He was white in color, and had pinkish purple wings, a large red nose, and a red pom-pom dangling from his head. I'd been so used to Bibble odd coloring of pink fur, darker pink wings, and blue pom-pom, that it seemed strange to see a moogle with normal coloring. This moogle was also wearing a uniform coat similar to the one King Edgar was wearing, but not as decorated.

"Rumple!" Bibble squealed and rushed out of her seat at the table, flying to this other moogle.

When she reached him, they hugged, giggled, and twirled around in circles. When they stopped twirling, they let go of each other.

"It's so good to see you, kupo!" said the male moogle, "It's been so long."

"Yes, Rumple, it has," Bibble answered, "Kupo, is THIS where you've been for all this time?"

"Kupo no, of course not. I started out traveling the world and got lost in a sandstorm when I got to this desert. It tossed me around until I finally ended up here in New Figaro. The King was so nice to me, kupo, that I decided to stay here."

They walked over and sat at the table. Bibble went back to her seat, and Rumple went to the seat across the table from her.

"I meant to try to contact you, kupo," He continued, "But I just didn't have the means to do it."

"Weren't you ladies just talking about a Mognet or something a moment ago?" the king replied.

"Mognet, kupo?" Rumple questioned, looking over at Bibble.

"Yes, kupo, Mognet is wonderful. It just started service a year ago. It's to help moogles communicate to each other from anywhere in the world."

"You mean there's other moogles besides you around the world?" I butted in.

"Well, not yet, kupo. Mognet is still fairly new, so not everyone has gotten used to being able to communicate through such distances. But eventually, kupo, there might be moogles everywhere in the world. And with Mognet, we can al keep in touch."

"That's wonderful, kupo!" Rumple replied. "You must teach me how it works, so that when you continue your journey we can keep in touch with each other."

"Don't worry. It's easy, kupo. I'll show you how it works after dinner."

"Kupo!"

Suddenly there was a knock echoing through the dining hall.

"Ah, that must be dinner," Edgar announced.

A moment later, I was surrounded by people pushing carts of dinner trays and placing the trays on various places at the center of the table. After a moment of metal clanking on the table, the room was clear again and t was just the four of us again. When I got a chance to look I noticed that there was a bottle of red wine between the king and me. The trays of food all had coverings over them.

"I always wait a few minutes before digging into the food," Edgar explained and reached for the wine bottle. "No sense burning your tongue on food that should be enjoyed."

He then poured it into each of the four glasses. After that he corked the bottle back up, placed it back on the table, and lifted his glass.

"To our guests," he toasted, "And a joyful reunion between moogles."

"Here, Here!" Rumple agreed as the rest of us lifted our glasses to the toast.

We all then took a sip of the wine. I never really liked the taste of wine, but the flavor of this one was different. I looked at the bottle, which was facing in my direction so I could read the label. It was dated several thousand years before I was born. I always heard that wines tasted better the more they were aged, but I didn't really think anything of it. After I finished thinking about how old the wine was, I looked down at Bibble, who was daintily sipping the wine.

"Funny, in all our travels you never allowed me to drink. I'd never thought I'd see you drinking fancy wine."

"I don't let you drink because I know that you don't know when to stop, kupo," she replied, "And normally I don't drink, because I only like to drink on occasions. I especially like red wine, but I try to avoid it."

"Why is that? Is it because you're afraid you won't be able to control how much of it you drink?"

"No, kupo," She answered and put down her glass, "It leaves a dark spot on the fur under my nose, and it makes it look like a moustache. It takes forever to get red wine stains out of my fur, kupo. But right now, I'm too happy to care."

"Apparently, you two are more than just acquaintances," Edgar added, pointing to Bibble and Rumple.

"Yeah, you seem like a little bit more than just two moogles from the same village," I agreed.

"We grew up together, kupo," Bibble explained.

"We've been best friends since we were very little, kupo," Rumple continued, "We both always talked about having adventures together."

"Then what happened?" I asked, "Why'd you go off on your own?"

"I wanted to take Holly with me on my travels, kupo, but that just couldn't happen. So we both agreed that I would go travel and write to Holly in detail."

"It started out that way, kupo. He wrote to me every day for five years. And hen the letters just suddenly stopped coming, kupo."

"That's when I ended up here."

"And then after a few months of not getting any letters, kupo, I decided to go on my own and look for him. I ended up in Midgar and found you, Miss Moira. You seemed so bored, and lonely, and angry, kupo. I felt like you needed a friend. So I stayed to be your friend."

"So that's why you suddenly started bugging me so much," I replied, "Geez, did I really look that miserable?"

"Yes, kupo. You did."

"When the king had told me that a moogle had come to the castle, kupo, I never imagined that it would be you."

"And the same for me when he said he had a moogle advisor, kupo."

"You couldn't just read his mind and find that out?" I asked.

"It's difficult to read minds when another moogle is nearby, kupo," Bibble answered, "Psychic interference, like static on the TV or radio."

"I find the moogles' mind-reading abilities fascinating," Edgar commented, "It's one of the reasons I made Rumple my advisor. Another reason is that he is a wonderful and trustworthy companion. He is not only my most valued servant, but also my most trusted friend."

"Sir! You embarrass me, kupo!" Rumple replied.

"I'm serious," Edgar said, "It's not easy for a king to find an advisor that is both wise and trustworthy."

"Thank you, Sir," Rumple said.

The conversation was then cut short by a loud boom. The room then shook for a second and stopped. The trays rattled and the cutlery had moved from the shaking.

"What was that?" I wondered out loud.

"I don't know," Edgar answered.

"That doesn't feel like the castle's burrowing system, kupo," Rumple said.

A moment later there was another boom and another violent shake.

"It feels like something's pounding on the castle, kupo," Bibble suggested.

"Impossible," Edgar replied, "Nothing's large enough to shake the castle like this. And besides, no living thing could live outside in a sandstorm like this."

Almost immediately after he said that, a soldier burst into the room through the large double doors.

"Your Highness! Your Highness!" He cried.

"What is it? What's going on?" The king asked as he rose from his chair.

"A gigantic monster is pounding on the castle, Sir! It's huge, Sir! Our weapon aren't having any affect on it, Sir!"

"A monster?" the king replied, "In the middle of a sandstorm?"

"Maybe it's a sandworm, kupo," Rumple suggested.

"No," the soldier continued, "Bigger, MUCH bigger."

"Well, don't just stand there," the king demanded, "Get every soldier not currently on the defense and do everything you can until I tell you otherwise."

"Yes, Sir!" he answered and rushed off.

"Let's go see what it is," I said and started towards the door.

"Yes, I'm afraid dinner will have to wait for us," Edgar agreed and also started to the door. The moogles weren't far behind us.

He led us through several hallways and stairs, stopping every so often for another pound from the monster outside. It went like this until we got to the top of the castle wall. It was incredibly windy, and the sand was stinging and almost blinding. I could barely see the soldiers scrambling around to get their weapons ready to fire. I looked out to the desert, but all I saw was sand blowing around.

"How the hell can anything survive out here?!" I yelled through the wind to nobody in particular. I could barely hear my own voice as I did.

There was another pound on the castle. I nearly lost my balance as most the men fell on their backs, King Edgar included. The moogles were just trying their best to just keep from getting blown away by the wind.

"Rumple!" Edgar yelled as he stood himself back up, "Take Miss Holly and get to shelter! I don't want you blown away by the storm!"

"Yes Sir!" Rumple answered and took Bibble back down the hall we'd just come out of.

"Where is it?!" I asked, looking around. "I don't see it!"

"Neither do I!" Edgar replied.

"RRAAAAAAAARRRR---!!!!" Roared something huge from behind all the sand.

It was loud enough that I didn't hear the wind through it. Then I saw a large shape coming at us very quickly. I grabbed the king and jumped to the side before the shape could crush us, causing yet another shake. After we both got up, I looked over at it. It looked like a fat, scaly tail.

I looked up at where the tail was coming from, but all I could see through the sand was a big, fat worm-shaped creature with two sets of short, fat arms. At the end that would've been its head, there was a huge mouth with rows upon rows of teeth inside it. It was shut for the most part. After a moment it opened up as it started roaring again.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRR---!!!!"

I looked over at the spot where its tail was and saw a massive hole in the wall. I looked back up at the monster, and waited for my opportunity.

"What are you doing?!" Edgar asked me, as if knowing I was up to something.

"I'm gonna go get it!" I answered.

"Are you mad?! Don't you see the size of that monster?!"

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall! And fall he will!"

We jumped aside again as his tail was again striking the wall. I then jumped up onto it, standing on all fours.

As it started moving away from the wall, I started getting ready to jump. After a moment, I found my way and made a leap, using the wind to push me right to the monster's head.

When I got there, I landed right above its mouth. It didn't seem to notice I was there, so I looked at its face, or what it had of one. It had scaly skin, which was strange for a worm. It also had three pairs of eyes running along the sides of its head. There were two more eyes along the top where I was. I figured it was either blind in those eyes or had them shut for the sandstorm because it obviously didn't see me. I then took my claws and dug into its left main eye. Needless to say, that didn't make it happy.

It immediately started tossing its head around, sending me flying into the castle wall. I was on the wall with my back to it for a moment before I started falling towards the sand below. Not to long into the fall, I clutched into the crevices of the stony wall. I looked back up and noticed the monster looking straight at me.

"Well, now it knows I'm here," I thought.

"Moira," said a familiar voice in my head. "Let me do battle with this beast instead."

"What?" I responded in thought as the thing stared down at me.

"You have not the power to defeat it. Let me help you."

"No, I'm not going to allow another transformation."

"You will surely be killed."

"I'd rather die than be responsible for another massacre. Just knowing that I've help stop this thing is enough for me."

"…Suit yourself."

Right then I saw a massive display of teeth rushing at me. I jumped up just as the monster's head rammed into the wall. I landed back on its head, where I was before, except this time its right eye had changed. Now it was open and looking right at me.

"Crap!" I thought.

I then felt something huge hit me, sending me flying off the head again and back onto the wall. This time, the monster didn't waste time. It pinned me to the wall with one of its hands. I looked up and saw that it was also looking right at me. Wondering how it could do that with its short stubby arms I looked ad saw that its arm was stretched, like it was made of rubber, so it could look right at me.

"CRAP!" I thought again as I struggled to break free from the monsters grip.

I tried scratching at its hand, but I only seemed to be scratching the scales and not really damaging it. After a second of futile scratching, I just grabbed a scale with each of my hands and pushed away from wherever it was pointing.

"RAAAAHHHH!!!!" It screamed and let go of me.

This time I fell away from the wall and couldn't grab hold of it. I ended up falling fifty feet into the sand, which was nowhere near as soft as it looked. I landed with a very loud thud, on my back. After having the wind knocked out of me, all I could to was watch as the monster picked me up with its claw and smash me into the wall. The only thing I could think of then was how much my chest was hurting. And being pinned to the wall again wasn't helping. My vision started getting blurry, and I knew it wasn't from the sand. And as everything went dark, I started feeling like the monster's hand was getting smaller, but before I could find out what was happening, I blacked out.

Hikorai

My body grew with each passing second, and with every inch, I felt my power returning to me. The monster watched, dumbfounded, as I grew too large for its hand to hold. When I was finished growing, I was still smaller than the monster, but large enough to where I was more than just an insect. At the very least I could look it in the face.

"Let us fight!" I called to the monster.

It then lunged at me, headfirst, with all of its teeth coming towards me. I readied my claws and clapped my hands together on the monster's head right when it was about to try and strike. It then pushed me back with all four of its hands and used them to pin me to the wall. Its top hands held each of my arms back while its other two hands held my chest and stomach.

"This worm is fond of pinning its opponents to the wall," I pointed out in thought.

As it prepared to lunge its teeth into me, I opened my mouth and shot a beam of ice magic into the worm's face.

"RAAAAAHHHHHHHRRRAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!" It cried and let go of me.

It backed away several feet as it rubbed its face with its top set of hands.

I took this opportunity and lunged towards it, claws extended. I clawed into what appeared to be its neck and right shoulder.

"AAARRRRRHHHH!!!" It screamed and grabbed my left ear with one of its top arms.

It squeezed that ear and yanked down so my head was lower down. It also grabbed and dug its claws into my left hind leg. A moment later, I felt a severely sharp pain in my right shoulder.

"RAAAAAOOOOWWW!!!!" I yowled in pain as it bit into my flesh.

With my ear pulled down, all I could see was the creature's chest area. So I took my claws and grabbed hold of its torso. I then opened my mouth wide and fired ice magic, then fire magic, then lightning magic, then ice again. The monster let go of me and slithered back, but I did not stop. Shot after shot after shot I fired until all of my magic was spent.

When I could not shoot any more, I looked down as the sand covered up the remains of my foe, which was not much to speak of. Only scraps remained of what was once the gigantic monstrosity. All I could recognize from it was part of its head and one of its arms, and it too was eventually buried in the sand.

I noticed that as the monster was buried, the sandstorm subsided.

"So you were the one that caused the sandstorm." I thought out loud. "Well, now you will no longer bother…. These…"

I fell to my knees and then down to my hands as I quickly lost strength.

"Miss Hikorai!" A small familiar voice called from a distance.

"Mo…Moogle?" I replied and looked over at the castle.

I could not see it very well, and my vision was quickly worsening. The pain in my ear and shoulder was unbearable.

"She's losing blood!" I heard a young male voice say as my consciousness faded. "Get her to the clinic! Quickly!"

I then could not even hold myself up with my hands anymore and just collapsed. I felt the sand under me shifting as my body began changing size again, but before it was done, I was already gone.

(The Next Day, Around Sunset…) Moira

I opened my eyes to find myself in a large room, with rows of white beds. I was laying in one of them. I tried to move my arm up o I could rub my aching head, but it was being held in place by bandages that were wrapped around my shoulders.

"Miss Moira! You're awake, kupo!" I heard a familiar voice call out from my left.

I tried to turn my head to look, but the bandages on my shoulders were also holding my head in place.

"Ow!" I cried as I felt a pain in my right shoulder.

"Don't move, kupo. You'll open your wounds."

"What happened?" I asked after giving up on trying to move.

"You transformed, kupo," Bibble answered, "Miss Hikorai took over after you were knocked out."

"And then what?"

"Well, she fought the monster, kupo, and she won the fight, kupo. Wow, did she ever win! She blew it to pieces, kupo. And then after the fight was done, the sandstorm went away. And then she fell down unconscious and transformed back, kupo."

"And we didn't go out of control?" I wondered out loud.

"Your mind was unconscious, 'member? Without another mind to cause any conflict, kupo, there was no problem."

"Hmm," I replied. "I'll have to remember to thank her later. We all would've been dead if she hadn't continued the fight for me."

"You're still badly injured, kupo. Miss Hikorai fell unconscious 'cuz she lost a lot of blood, kupo. The sand blowing into the wounds wasn't helping any, either."

"That explains why everything stings."

"And after we got you inside to the clinic, the king went out into the village to make sure everyone was ok."

"Speaking of King Flirts-A-Lot, where is he?"

"You mean me?" Said a male voice from the doorway.

"He's right over there, kupo."

He walked up so I could see him standing at my bed.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"I feel like a mummy," I answered.

"I'm sorry I can't help you more," he said, "I've been asking around for anyone who knows any white magic to see if they could make your wounds heal faster. Right now my soldiers are still searching."

"You don't have to do all that for me. I'm fine now."

"Yes, but your wounds are great and will take time to heal. Besides, we owe you our lives. You saved my castle and my people."

"I only did what I thought was right."

"We are grateful, nonetheless. You failed to mention that you could transform like that. It was amazing."

"I try to keep that a secret."

"And Holly tells me that when you transformed, another personality took over the fight for you."

"Yeah, Hikorai. She's the esper."

"Oh yes, you did mention when you arrived that you used to be human."

"Yeah, Hikorai's the unfortunate esper that got fused into me."

"I can't imagine how such a thing could happen."

"Let me put it this way. Mad scientist, plus magecite, plus stupid me equals what you see before you. And I'll leave it at that."

"Uh-huh," He replied. He obviously wanted o know more.

"Ugh, fine. Bibble, could you get the magecite out of my pocket?"

"Sure, kupo," she answered and ran over to the bed where my clothes were laid. She took the magecite out of the pocket and handed it to Edgar. He examined it for a moment before saying anything.

"It looks… Empty," he said.

"Everything that used to be in there," I pointed at the magecite and then pointed at myself, "Is now in here."

"Including the esper's soul," he replied and handed the magecite back to Bibble. She then went and put it back in my pocket.

"At any rate," he continued, "She put up an amazing fight."

"So I keep hearing. I wasn't there, so I'll have to take your word for it."

"She really was amazing, kupo," Bibble said, "With how nice she is, you wouldn't think she'd have that kind of fighting power, but she tore that monster to shreds."

"And I got torn to shreds in the process," I replied, "That was my first really big fight."

"Yup, and you won, kupo."

"Yes, you were victorious," Edgar agreed.

"No, I wasn't. I was almost killed. Hikorai won the battle, not me."

"At any rate, kupo, the battle ended with us on the winning side. It doesn't matter how it happened, kupo, as long as we're alive."

"Hmm," I replied.

Then there was a knock on the door.

"Yes?" Edgar replied.

"Sir," Said a deep voice from behind the door, "We found a white mage wants to volunteer her services."

"Send her in."

The door opened, and a small woman walked in. She had long, dark red hair that was tied up in a ponytail. Draped on her shoulders, over her plain peasant clothes, she wore a white cape that had a red triangle design along the edges. When she saw the king she immediately bowed.

"Uh, y-your Highness," She stuttered in a small sweet voice and then looked over in my direction, "Is this our city's savior?"

"Yes, she is," Edgar answer, "Her name is Moira, and she is badly wounded."

"On behalf of all the people of New Figaro, I will heal her to show our gratitude."

"Thank you," Edgar replied, "I'll leave you to your work."

"Yes, Your Highness," the white mage said as Edgar left the room.

"Are you people really that grateful?" I asked, "I don't feel like I deserve it."

"Of course you deserve it," she answered as she walked up to my bedside, "You've saved us all from that hideous beast. It would've surely destroyed the castle if you had not done battle with it."

"Yeah, Miss Moira," Bibble agreed, "You were really brave, kupo."

"Thanks," I replied.

"I will need you to sleep so I can proceed," the white mage said and raised her hand over my face, "Sleep."

A second later I was off to sleep.

I found myself floating in the dark. It seemed like something normal now that I would find myself here.

"I wonder if it's a good thing or a bad thing that I'm used to this dark place," I thought to myself. "And I wonder where Hikorai is?"

"Hikorai!" I called out into the darkness. When I didn't get an answer I decided to start wandering.

After a while I saw her massive form lying peacefully asleep. I went up to her and just smiled.

"I guess you're more tired than I am," I said, knowing she wouldn't reply. "Not that I blame you. You did most of the fighting."

"Mmm…" She mumbled and moved her head to face me. "Moira?"

She seemed groggy and not quite sure whether or not I was actually there.

"Good morning," I greeted.

"But it is evening," she corrected.

"You can tell night from day in here?"

"I had a very efficient body clock when I was alive."

"How do you feel?"

"Tired," she answered, "Very, very tired. I had not seen battle since long before my death."

"Yeah, I wasn't ready for that kind of a fight either. I wasn't expecting to be completely spanked either. I'm sorry for shoving you back in the beginning."

"You need not apologize. I understand your concern. It would have been disastrous if we had lost control right then. We would have been the force to be feared instead of the worm."

"Yeah, but I also can't ignore the fact that you saved everyone's lives in the end, including mine. Thanks."

"I only did what I thought was right. I could not let the castle be destroyed."

"Still, I owe you my life."

"No, Moira. As far as I am concerned, I was paying you a debt."

"A debt? For what?"

"For tolerating my presence in your mind for all this time."

"Well, if I had to be stuck with another being in my mind, I'm glad it's you."

She smiled and laid her head back where it was.

"Are you gonna be ok?" I asked.

"Of course I will," she answered. "Since I am already dead, I cannot die. I just need rest to regain my strength."

"I'll just let you do that then."

After a few moments of silence I started hearing a voice chanting something in a language I'd never heard before. It sounded like the white mage's voice. Her voice sounded soft, and all of a sudden I felt very comfortable.

The next thing I knew, I was back in the clinic, again lying on the bed, except this time, I wasn't in pain. I looked over at the white mage, and she smiled down at me.

"I am finished," she said, "You are healed."

"Feels like it," I replied, "The pain's all gone."

"I'll go get the king and tell him, kupo," Bibble said as she rushed out of the room.

"I am glad that I was able to help you recover," the white mage continued, "It is my life's mission to heal others in need, and I feel I am one step closer to mastering these skills."

"Well, I'm glad I could help you practice," I replied. "What's your name, anyway?"

"My name?"

"Yeah, your name. So I know who to thank for making my wounds go away faster."

"Oh, my name is Terra Katana. And I believe your name I Moira, is it not?"

"Yes, it is."

"Tell me, Moira," She said and started blushing, "Uh, what do you think of our king?"

"Edgar? He's a huge flirt, but all around he's a good guy. I think if he ever actually got a woman to like him he'd stick with her no matter what."

"Um, do you know what kind of girls he likes?"

"Wait…" I looked over at her and actually saw her blush, "You've got the hots for him, don't you?"

"Eh-heh, do I make it that obvious?" She asked and blushed even more.

"Yes you do," I answered, "Why don't you just talk to him and find out?"

"Oh, but I could not possibly... I mean, he would not think of… would he?"

"I don't know. I've only known the guy for a few hours, not counting the time I've been unconscious. You're a pretty girl. I'm sure he's noticed that by now. Just talk to him and see what happens."

"Thank you. I will."

"I think I'll get rid of these bandages and get my clothes back on before the king comes in."

"I will help you."

Between the two of us, it didn't take long to get the bandages off. When they were all off, I reached over and grabbed my clothes and started putting them on.

"Geez, I'm so hairy," I grumbled, looking down at my fur-covered body, "It almost looks natural that I don't have any clothes on."

"It does not look so bad."

"It's just something I still haven't gotten over," I said as I finished dressing myself, "I mean, geez, I should be used to it by now."

"Perhaps someday, you will find someone who will find that attractive."

"Heh, I already have, but events happened that caused us to be separated, and now I'm looking for him."

"Oh, well I hope you find him."

"Thanks."

The door opened and Bibble came through it.

"Kupo? Miss Moira, are you up?"

"Yup. Up, dressed, and ready to hit the road."

"Great, kupo."

"Don't forget this," Edgar said as he entered the room with my cloak in his hand.

"Yeah, can't be seen in public without it."

I put my cloak on, but left my hood down for the moment.

Bibble walked up to me and looked up at me.

"Miss Moira," she said.

"What?" I answered.

"Your ear," she said, pointing up at my left ear.

Since I couldn't see it, I reached my hand up and felt it. I noticed that there was a hole halfway up the lower edge of my ear.

"Hmm," I said with a stern look on my face, "Now how'd that happen?"

"Maybe the monster did it, kupo."

"Heh. A battle scar, and it wasn't even while I was fighting."

"Well, let's not dwell on that," the king said, "I'm sure you want to continue on your quest. Your chocobo is rested and ready."

"Great."

The king led us through the castle and into the stables, where Jamie had been resting the whole time.

"Wark!" He greeted as we walked up. "Wark wark!"

"Hey, Jamie!" I greeted back and started petting him, "Did you sleep well?"

He trilled and rubbed his head in my face. I let go of his head so I could open the stall to let him out.

"Alrighty."

I looked back and noticed that only Bibble was with me in the stable.

"Wait, where'd Edgar go?"

"Miss Terra wanted to speak with him for a moment about something. I know what it is too, kupo. She likes him."

"I know. Do you think he'll like her back? I think he will."

"I think he will, too, kupo."

"Well, I'd love to stick around and find out, but we have a search to get back to."

"Yes, kupo," she said and then started running back into the castle. "Uh, you keep going, kupo. I'll meet you outside."

"Where are YOU going?"

"I gotta say goodbye to Rumple, kupo. I'll be right back."

"Ok."

I led Jamie out of the stable and out to the front of the castle. There the king was waiting for us.

"Where is little Holly?" he asked.

"She went to say goodbye to Rumple," I answered.

"Ah, yes. I'm sure they will miss each other greatly. But with this Mognet, I'm sure they will communicate much more."

"Probably," I said and then looked up at what was left of the castle wall. It was more damaged than I remembered. Part of it looked like it was blasted open, and I knew the monster didn't use any magic.

"The castle looks really beat up," I pointed out.

"Don't think of the castle," Edgar replied, also looking up at it, "That is not how I want you to remember New Figaro."

"Oh? And how would you prefer I remember it?"

"Remember the people you helped here. Remember that for years, centuries, countless generations to come there will be people in New Figaro, all because of you and your bravery. That is how I want you to remember us."

"But the castle doesn't even look stable anymore with all the beatings it took."

"Yes, it doesn't seem like it's safe to stay here," Edgar replied. "If there are more monsters like that in this desert, I don't think this castle could stand another beating, and none of us want the kingdom to stay underground until the end of time. I think I'll relocate the kingdom to someplace less sandy."

"Sounds like a big project," I said, "What'll you do with the castle?"

"We will dismantle it and carry the pieces to build a new castle in the new location. Of course, we won't be able to take the whole castle with us. The burrowing mechanism will stay where it is. When we leave, we will activate it for its burial. But I will not do anything until I have chosen the location, and that in itself will take some time."

"And what'll you call this new kingdom?"

He blinked a couple of times, not quite sure how to answer. Then he just shrugged and grinned a big goofy grin.

"….Er, I suppose we will just call it New Figaro again. New New Figaro would sound ridiculous. Nobody would ever take us seriously."

"Heh, Yeah I guess. Since this kingdom will be stationary, maybe someday it'll actually be on the world map."

"I can only hope so."

"Miss Moira!" Bibble called as she flew up from seemingly nowhere.

"You ready to go now?" I asked.

"Yes, kupo," she answered and then looked down where Rumple was standing. She landed in front of him and took his hands in hers.

"Do you remember what I told you, kupo?" she asked Rumple.

"About Mognet? Everything, kupo. I will start writing the moment you leave."

"And we'll write every day, kupo."

"Of course, kupo."

They nudged noses for a moment and then parted hands. Bibble flew up and sat in her usual place on Jamie's back. I then grabbed hold and hopped up, mounting onto Jamie behind her.

"You both are welcome to come back and visit any time," Edgar said.

"We'll have to," I replied, "This is the only place I actually enjoyed staying at."

"Of course you will have to come," he continued, "I owe you dinner. It was interrupted when that monster attacked the castle."

"You don't have to worry about that."

"But I insist. I give you my word as a Figaro that the next time you come to New Figaro, you will be given the feast we could not have last night."

"Heh, ok. I'll come back the next time I'm in the area. You'll still be in this spot of the desert, right?"

"Figaro Castle will not be going anywhere, anymore. At least not until I have picked out its new location."

"Well, it'll be easy to find then," I said as I started trotting off, "I'll see you then."

"I look forward to it. Farewell."

We went out the castle door and into the desert. Then Jamie sprinted off, wings half-open. And with a few flaps, we were in the air and on our way again.


	14. Ch 12: Deep Deep Forest

**Chapter XII  
****Deep Deep Forest**

(5 Years Later) Year 9 After Midgar

"Honestly, Bibble!" I said as I walked up to her, "Don't you ever get tired of reading the same letter over and over again?"

Ever since we left New Figaro, Bibble had been getting Mognet letters from Rumple. They'd been writing each other back and forth for the past five years. Since Mognet was still fairly new at the time, the letters took at least a week to get from sender to recipient.

It basically worked with the moogles' telepathy. Over at Mognet Central, the home base of Mognet, they had a machine constantly scanning the entire world. When a moogle wanted to send a letter, he or she had to mentally tell Mognet Central about it, which I'd dubbed "summoning the mailman," because after that, a mail moogle would come and take the letter to Mognet Central. There, they used the machine to locate the recipient and deliver it to them.

One funny thing about it was that aside from the mail moogles, nobody ever knew where Mognet Central actually was. I guess maybe they didn't want anyone blabbing to non-moogles where the place was.

It didn't really bother me not knowing where it was, as long as it was working and Bibble was happy, and happy she was. It seemed with every letter, her smiles got bigger. She just giggled at this particular letter. King Edgar had just gotten married to Terra, the white mage that healed me. He was also getting ready to announce the location he had chosen to move New Figaro.

We were on a ship heading to a large island on the far south, south of the Eastern Continent. It was the island where Mideel was before a creature called Ultima Weapon turned it into a gigantic crater. This made it the only place in the world where the Lifestream was exposed to the open air. Some skeptics still thought that it was something else, and that the Lifestream was just a fairy tale. Whether it actually existed or not was irrelevant, because that was where we were going.

I looked down at Bibble, who was sitting on one of the cots in our little room, reading her letter from Rumple for the hundred-thousandth time. She had already sent her reply letter and was waiting for the next letter.

"Hello? Moira to Bibble!"

"Kupo!" Bibble jumped, startled. "Oh, Miss Moira. I don't ever get tired of reading letters from Rumple, kupo. It always makes me so happy."

"Why don't you just tell the guy that you love him and get it over with? I'm sure he feels the same way about you but won't say."

"Oh no, but I can't, kupo. That'll only make me miss him more."

"Ok, whatever." I replied as I started walking out of the room, "You just keep reading. I'm gonna go down and check on Jamie."

"Ok, kupo."

I shut the door behind me and headed over to the deck of the ship where the livestock was kept. This deck included a stable for chocobos, and that was where Jamie was being kept. I went in and walked up to the stall where Jamie happily slept.

Jamie was starting to get old, so his flying skills weren't what they used to be. He could still carry me along the ground easily enough, but his wings just didn't have the strength for the both of us anymore. So whenever we wanted to go anywhere overseas, we took a boat. And in the case when the boat wasn't very crowded, I kept my hood down. This was such a case.

I looked down at him from the other side of the stall door, which only went up to my waist. His feathers had gotten a little scruffy in the past five years, and the nice yellow coloring had started turning dull and brownish, which were the most obvious signs of an aging chocobo.

"It won't be too long before I'll have to retire you, my friend," I said as he slept.

He ruffled his feathers and kept sleeping, as if I wasn't even in the room.

I backed away from the stall and went back up to my room. When I walked in, I noticed Bibble putting her letter away in a bag Rumple sent her not long after we'd left New Figaro.

"Had enough reading?" I smirked, knowing very well that wasn't the case.

"Of course not, kupo, and you know it. The captain just announced that we're almost there, so I'm getting ready, kupo."

"Good," I replied, "After we look around what's left of Mideel again, we'll grab the next boat back to the mainland."

"I know Mideel was Mr. Raven's hometown, kupo, but wouldn't you think it'd be a little strange if he actually came back here?"

"It's worth a shot. I don't really think Raven would've come back here between the last time we were here and now, but it doesn't hurt to look."

"Ok, kupo."

We then walked back down to the stables again to get Jamie. He was again this time. I guess the movement from the ship preparing to dock woke him up.

"Hey, Jamie. We're almost there," I said as I opened the stall.

"War-r-r-rk," he ruffled and got up.

We all walked up to the top deck so we could watch as the boat docked. It wasn't very exciting, especially since we'd already taken many other boats before this. Being on deck when it docked made getting off the boat that much quicker.

When the boat finally did dock and lower the ramp, we started our way off the boat. When we were almost at the bottom of the ramp, a mail moogle appeared in front of us.

"Holly Bibble, kupo?" He said, holding a letter in his hands.

"Kupo! A letter from Rumple!" She squealed as she gladly received the letter and immediately started reading it.

"Uh, not exactly, kupo," he replied, "It's from Chief Poku from Kupo Village."

"Oh no!" She gasped as she read the letter. "This is terrible, kupo!"

"What? What happened?" I asked, curious as to what was going on.

"This is an urgent message to all moogles that are abroad, kupo," she read out loud, "Everyone must come home immediately. It's an emergency."

"What's the emergency?" I wondered out loud.

"Do you know what's happened, kupo?" Bibble asked the mail moogle.

"No. We at Mognet don't know either, kupo," he answered, "But we've been instructed to send this letter to every moogle out of the village, and then we are to go home ourselves when we finish. No one knows why, kupo."

"Well, let's go," I said as I turned around to get back on the boat.

"Wait, kupo," Bibble called and stopped me.

"What? Don't you WANT to go back to your village?"

"Yes, kupo, but we don't have to get back on the boat."

"Oh? And why is that?"

"Because it's right in this forest," she answered as she pointed to the forest that covered almost the entire island.

"Oh," I replied and turned back around and got off the ramp with Jamie walking right next to me. "That's convenient."

"You've sent letters to everyone, right kupo?" Bibble asked the mail moogle.

"Yes, kupo. Everyone who isn't in the village."

"Even Rumple?"

"Yes, kupo. Him too. He should be on his way right now. Oh, and that reminds me, kupo. I have to give this to you before I leave."

He shuffled in his bag and pulled out another letter.

"This one is from Rumple, kupo," he said and handed it to Bibble.

"Oh, thank you, kupo."

"You're welcome, kupo." He said as he started flying away, "I'll go deliver the rest of the letters and be on my way home soon."

"Ok, kupo. Bye," she said as she stuffed Rumple's newest letter in her bag.

"You're not going to read it?" I wondered.

"Right now, getting to Kupo Village is more important, kupo. I have to know what this emergency is."

"Alright," I said as I put my hood on, "Lead the way."

She nodded and started flying inland. Jamie and I followed close behind. We started out walking along the path to Mideel, but then she turned off and started going into the woods. There was no path in the forest, so it was difficult to follow Bibble from this point. Nonetheless, we managed to somehow keep up as she swerved and weaved seamlessly through and around all the trees that were giving Jamie and me a hard time.

After what seemed like an eternity of swerving and weaving, we arrived at what, at first, looked like a clearing. When we walked in, I noticed that it wasn't a clearing, but the trees were much more organized in this area. They were also larger… much larger… Each of the trees was at least a few dozen feet wide… and they all had windows and doors in them.

"The houses are made of trees," I commented.

"Isn't it pretty, kupo?" Bibble bragged, "They were carefully hollowed out by our ancestors long ago when Kupo Village was founded. Before this, kupo, moogles used to live in caves in the mountains."

"Something's wrong here," I pointed out.

She stopped for a moment and also noticed something off.

"It's quiet, kupo."

"Too quiet. Where is everybody?"

"Rrrrrk…" Jamie ruffled his feather, seeming to also be uncomfortable with the eerie silence.

"Hellooooo!" Bibble called out, "Is anyone here, kupo?!"

I then noticed something strange in the air.

"There are moogles here. I can smell 'em," I said, "But I smell something other than moogles here, too."

"So there ARE moogles here, kupo."

"Yeah, and they're all hiding from something. They're all scared."

"Of what?"

"Probably from this other thing that's here."

"Holly!" called a familiar squeaky male voice from behind us.

We all turned around and saw Rumple flying towards us, still wearing his coat from New Figaro.

"Rumple!" Bibble called back and went to meet him.

"I came as soon as I got the letter, kupo. Do you know what's going on?"

"I wish I knew, kupo, but the letter didn't tell anyone what this emergency was. Even the moogles at Mognet don't know what it is, kupo."

"RrrrRRRRAAARRrrrrr…." Something roared from up in the trees.

"I think we're about to find out what it is," I said.

I listened for a moment, but all I could hear was a lot of rustling in the branches above, coming from what seemed like everywhere. There were also a lot of faint growls coming from above.

"This is getting scary, kupo," Bibble said.

"This is getting ridiculous," I replied, looking up at the branches as they shook and rattled.

"Hey!" I called up, "You in the branches! Why don't you come down here and show yourselves!"

"Miss Moira!" Bibble whimpered, surprised that I actually called up to whatever it was that was in the trees.

"You want to know what this emergency is, don't you?" I said, "Well, that seems to be it, and I think it should come down here and introduce itself."

"Kupo…"

"You coming down or what?!" I called up again. "Or do I have to go up there and get you down?!"

"RAAARRRR--!" I heard something roar as a dark figure leapt down from the branches. When it landed, it stood up and started to approach me. When it passed through a patch of light, I was able to see what it was.

"A moomba?" I said, confused.

Moombas were somewhat sentient cat-like creatures that lived in remote forests. Its ears were long and pointed, and its long tail ended in a tuft of bright red fur. Normally, these creatures were half the height of humans and were a golden orange in color, and they had red manes that spiked backwards. This moomba was a little taller than me, was jet black in color, and had no mane.

"A freak moomba," I thought to myself. "This is the big emergency?"

"Miss Moira…" Bibble whispered, "H-He's not alone, kupo."

I looked past him and saw that there were more moombas behind him, except almost all of them were normal, being of the regular size, shape, and color. There were two directly behind him that were also around my height. One was a reddish color with black stripes and a short flowing striped mane. The other was a yellowish color with black ring-like spots and a short mane only from the bottom half of his head. The black one approached me as the rest of the group stayed back and watched.

"You are an outsider," he said in a deep voice as he walked up.

"Moombas can talk?" I thought.

"So I am," I said in reply, "But at least I'm welcome here."

"Not by us, you aren't."

He then started walking slow circles around me, as if examining me through my cloak. I kept my guard up, ready for whatever he might do.

"It's strange," he said, "Your scent is obviously human, but there's something wrong with it. There's something else there. What are you hiding?"

"Why are you terrorizing the moogles?" I asked, ignoring his question.

"I refuse to explain my actions to a human."

"Want me to force it out of you then?"

"Are you threatening me?" He asked with a smile, as if he was amused.

"Is that a trick question?" I asked back, "Of course I am."

"Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

"No, I don't. Do you?"

He stopped in front of me and turned to face me. He stepped closer and brought his face closer to mine.

"How can I know who I'm dealing with if my enemy hides under a hood?"

"It doesn't scare you, does it?"

"I'm not scared of anything," he chuckled as he stepped back and stood up straight, "Especially not a human. I am Pantaro, leader of the Moomba Tribe."

He then walked back to the two moombas that were standing behind him.

"This is my sister, Taegra," He said, pointing to the striped moomba, and then to the spotted moomba, "And my brother, Jaga."

"Moira Lenore," I answered, removing my hood.

"What?!" he gasped, staring in disgust.

"What's the matter, Pantaro?" I said with a smirk on my face, "Is this too confusing for you?"

He growled for a moment before he spoke.

"I knew there was something wrong with you!" he growled, "Humans are NOT supposed to look feline!"

"And moomba's aren't supposed to be human-sized, or have human-like intelligence for that matter. Apparently, we're both freaks among our own species."

"Rrrrr… You are sadly mistaken if you think we have anything in common. My brother, sister, and I were given the gift of enlightenment. We were meant to lead the Moomba Tribe to glory!"

"Ok, pal. Whatever you say. Just stop terrorizing the moogles, and we won't have a problem."

"We already HAVE a problem. Despite what you look like, you are a human, and humans don't belong in this forest. You will leave us to our business or we will force you to leave."

"I'm staying here until I'm sure the moogles are safe and happy again. If it means going through your sorry ass, then so be it."

"You have until sunset to leave," he growled as he started walking off. The other moombas started running off in front of him. After a moment, they were gone, and their scent went with them.

Almost immediately, I could smell the fear from the moogles fading away. After a while, I was starting to hear murmurs of joy coming from inside. The door of one of the larger houses opened up, and en elderly moogle walked out of it, leaning on a staff that was slightly taller than he was.

He was slightly larger than Bibble, and he had a fair amount of wrinkles on his face. He had the normal moogle coloring of white fur, magenta wings, and red pom-pom. He also had bushy eyebrows and a poofy moustache and beard combo. He wore a light greenish-brown robe.

He walked up to us and looked up at me.

"Kupo, thank you, my friend," he said, "Those moombas have been up in those trees for the past two days, snatching away anyone who would step out of their home. Moira was your name, wasn't it? I am Chief Poku. On behalf of everyone, I welcome you to Kupo Village."

"Thanks," I replied.

"Chief Poku," Bibble called, flying up to the old moogle, "What happened, kupo? Why are the moombas invading the village?"

"Yeah, kupo," Rumple said as he came flying up. "What's going on?"

"This is something we must speak of inside, kupo," Chief Poku answered in a whisper, "There are prying ears around the village, and any wrong word could mean disaster for the village. Everyone, follow me."

He turned around and started walking. We followed him through the village to the house that he walked out of. When we got there, I noticed that the door was half my height. At this point I wondered if I was going to fit inside the house. After climbing the porch steps, the chief turned around and looked up at me.

"Do not worry, kupo," he said, "There is plenty of room inside for someone your size. Our ancestors built these houses with the thought that humans would someday come and visit them. Believe me, it's quite roomy."

He turned back around and pounded his stick on a certain spot on the porch. After a moment, a large area around the door lit up and dimmed to reveal that the door had grown to where I could easily walk through it.

"Wow," I said, staring at the now enlarged door.

"Now let's get inside," Poku said and opened the door.

I turned and looked up at Jamie.

"I want you to wait out here for us, ok? And alert us if any moombas show up."

"Wark," he squawked and nodded.

I then went through the door and into the house behind the three moogles. The place actually was as roomy as Chief Poku said. It was like walking into a small living room, except the furniture was a lot smaller. While the moogles sat around the table, I found a nice spot on the floor to sit on beside the table.

"So what's the story?" I asked.

"Yes, kupo," Bibble said, "The moombas used to be our friends. Why are they attacking our village, kupo?"

"They were your friends?" I asked, looking down at Bibble, "I'd hate to see how they'd treat their enemies."

"I don't think they completely know what they're doing, kupo," Chief Poku started, "Yes, the moombas were once our friends. They live in a small village not far from this one. They also build their homes in the trees, but in the branches instead of down in the trunks like our homes are. We lived in peace with them ever since our ancestors founded this village. But recently, three tall, strange moombas came in seemingly from nowhere."

"Hmm…" I replied.

"These three are different from the others, kupo," he continued, "And I mean besides their obvious difference in appearance. They have much more complex minds, and they almost always walk on their hind legs, only using all fours for fast running."

"Is that when the moombas started attacking, kupo?" Rumple asked.

"No," Chief Poku answered, "Nothing changed with the moombas at first, kupo. They still spoke to us for a while. They said that the three strangers came from a distant land made of stone, metal, and lights. A place with no forests or lakes, no plants or grass. A place with lots and lots of humans."

"Sounds a lot like Midgar," I commented, "What else did they say?"

"They said that the oldest of the three, Pantaro, began going on about how moombas were superior, kupo, and saying that they had the strength to rule the forest. Slowly, one by one, he built a band of followers. And then eventually, his band spread through the entire tribe."

"And then they attacked," I finished for him.

"Yes, kupo," he sighed. "Many of our friends were hurt, kupo, and other are missing. Their conquest only started a few days ago, and already they've caused great harm."

"Has anyone been killed?" I asked.

"Thankfully, no. It seems all they want is to bully us around. Hurt us just enough to surrender."

"I dunno," I replied, "Something seems off about this whole--"

I stopped when I smelled something nearby.

"What is it, Miss Moira?" Bibble asked.

"There are moombas outside," I answered and got up.

Everyone else got up after me and we all walked towards the door. I walked out first and looked around. I didn't see the moomba anywhere, but then I noticed something else.

"Wait… Where's Jamie?"

Then I saw a small moomba running up to me on all fours, carrying a large leaf in its mouth. When it got to us, it stood up on its hind legs and handed me the leaf. I then noticed that there was writing on it.

"Message! Message!" It said in a small, squeaky voice. "From Pantaro!"

After giving me the message, he quickly turned around and ran off into the forest.

I looked down at the writing on the leaf.

_I've had a change of mind. You will  
__come to our village at sunrise or your  
bird __is lunch. No sooner and no later._

_Signed,  
__Pantaro_

_ P.S. No moogles, or else he's breakfast._

"RrrrrrrRRRRRR…" I growled as I finished reading the note, immediately crumpling it to pieces and ripping it to shreds.

"What is it, Miss Moira?" Bibble asked. "What happened to Jamie?"

"What did the note say, kupo?" Rumple asked.

"RRRRRRRR!!!!!" Was all I could say. My fur stood on end as I growled.

"I understand your anger, kupo," Chief Poku said to me, "But you must stay calm and focused if you want to save your friend."

"That bastard is going to wish he was never born," I growled and started walking.

"Wait!" Chief Poku called.

"What?!" I growled and turned back around.

"You should wait until the appointed time, kupo," he answered, "The sun is just now setting for the night."

"RrrrrRRRR!!!"

"Are you that willing to risk Jamie's life, kupo?" he asked. "The threat is serious. He will kill Jamie if you don't do as he says."

"But…" I tried to find something to say to that, but I just couldn't think. I was too angry. I felt like beating the living crap out of Pantaro for what he did.

"I can summon a large rock for you to smash if you want to release your anger," the Chief offered.

I looked back at the moogles. Bibble and Rumple were both very confused. They obviously both knew that the moombas took Jamie, but they didn't seem to have any idea of what the threat was. I found it odd that they wouldn't have known it, since they could've just read my mind.

"The psychic interference amongst other moogles becomes faint with age, kupo," Chief Poku explained before I could ask, "Older moogles have an easier time hearing minds through it than younger moogles can. Being the elder of the village, I have no trouble knowing what goes on in your mind, while Rumple and Holly have no idea of Pantaro's threat against Jamie."

"What does he want, kupo?" Bibble asked.

I took a deep breath and let out a loud sigh. I knew what he said before was true, and that I had to go through this calmly.

"He told me to go to the moomba village at sunrise, no sooner and no later, or they'll have Jamie for lunch."

"That's awful. kupo!" Bibble gasped, "I'll go with you and help you!"

"P.S. No moogles, or else he's breakfast," I quoted.

"Kupo…" she groaned. "Are you actually going to go alone?"

"I don't have a choice," I answered, "Not if I want Jamie to live."

(Several hours later… Just before sunrise)

It was the longest night I ever had to experience. The hours had dragged on forever. I'd thought about sleeping before going, but I was too worried to get even a wink.

I walked out of the tree house with only one thing in mind, and that was to go and bring Jamie back to safety. I stepped off the porch and started walking to the edge of the village.

"I wish you didn't have to go alone, kupo," Bibble spoke up from behind me.

I looked back and saw her hovering over the porch. Standing behind her were Rumple and Chief Poku. All of them were looking up at me.

"Yes, kupo," Rumple agreed, "We would've been right behind you."

"We will be with you in spirit, kupo," Chief Poku said, "And in thought, for I will constantly check your thoughts to make sure you are still alive."

"Even though I know you meant that in the kindest possible way," I replied, "It sounded really creepy."

"He just means we'll keep in touch, kupo," Bibble explained, "But we know you won't be completely alone 'cuz Hikorai will be with you."

"Yeah, but I don't want to depend on her to get me out of this mess. Although it is kind of comforting to know that I won't be completely alone."

"You should go before the sun rises over the village," the Chief urged. "The moomba village is north of here. Do you think that you will be able to find it from here?"

"I'll just go north and follow the smell of moombas. It shouldn't be too hard for me to find."

"Well, then good luck," he replied.

"Lots of it, kupo," Rumple added.

"And please be careful, kupo," Bibble said, "I don't want anything to happen to you or Jamie."

"Don't worry, I'll be careful," I answered as I started walking away again.

I walked out through the north side of the village and started walking through the seemingly endless maze of trees. It wasn't hard to find my way. All I had to do was go where the moomba smell got stronger. I eventually found my way to what looked like a clearing.

I looked around and saw what looked like nests with leafy roofs built into the branches of the trees. The scent of moomba was strong here, so I knew that I'd found the village.

When I looked down from the housing, I noticed that tied to one of the trees, was Jamie, who was struggling to break free.

"Jamie!" I called and ran over to him.

He stopped struggling and warked happily when he saw me running up. I looked closely, and saw that his entire body was tightly tied to the tree, with his back facing away from the tree, making movement difficult.

"Jamie…" I said as I looked down at the vines they used to tie him up.

"Wark!" He squawked as he tried to move his head to look directly at me.

"Don't move," I said and grabbed one of the vines, "I'm gonna get you out of here. Just hold still so I can get these vines off you."

I took both of my hands and ripped the vine to pieces. Although that loosened the hold, there were still more vines wrapped around him. So I just grabbed another vine and continued.

"You came," said a deep voice from behind me.

I turned around and there stood Pantaro. I glared at him as he approached me.

"Let my chocobo go," I demanded.

"And what if I don't?" he replied.

"I came here to save him. Your note said to come alone at sunrise, and I did. Now let him go."

"Again, what if I don't?"

"Why did you want me to come here?!" I yelled.

"Are you going to start the question game again? Because it wasn't fun the first time."

"Kidnapping and threatening to eat my chocobo was completely unnecessary. He didn't do anything to you."

"Ha!" he burst out, "You humans are all just a bunch of hypocrites!"

"What's THAT supposed to mean?"

"I shouldn't have to explain it to you, you worthless waste of life!" he screamed and lunged at me.

I lunged back to push him away from Jamie. He apparently didn't expect me to be very strong, because I easily knocked him backwards onto his back and landed on top of him.

At this he growled and smacked me in the face, sending me rolling off of him. I quickly got up and rushed back to him, claws extended. He slashed at me, aiming for my head. I ducked down so his claws rushed past above my head. I turned around and slashed him in the back.

I took the free split second to look over my shoulder to check on Jamie. He was ok for the moment. I then had to bend backward to avoid being slashed in the chest. I grabbed his arm while it was above me and pulled it down so he flipped sideways into the ground.

I again looked over at Jamie to make sure I wasn't too close to him. I then felt a huge force hit me in the stomach as Pantaro tackled me onto the ground. When I realized we landed near Jamie, I shoved him off me and stepped over to where I wasn't so close. We lunged at each other and met locking hands, pushing on each other as if trying to prove which of us was stronger.

"You're holding back," he says.

"I'm just trying to keep the fight away from my chocobo."

"You are scared to fight near your so-called loved one? I am fighting near my entire tribe, and I'm not holding back."

"My loved one is tied to a tree, unable to move, while yours are free to dodge us as we fight."

"That's no excuse."

"I thought your fight was with the moogles. Why do you insist on trying to make me miserable?"

He shoved me backwards, sending me towards Jamie. I ended up bumping into him, but not hurting him.

"No, our real fight is with the humans. I only used the moogles to prove to my tribe just how strong they are."

"You turned trusted friends against each other."

"Friends?!" he exploded, "Friends are a figment of the imagination. The only people you can trust are your family, your tribe, and your own kind."

"That's a pretty sad way of seeing things," I commented, "If you want me to fight at my best, let me release MY friend first."

I then finished ripping the vines off of Jamie. He ruffled his feathers, letting loose the stiff muscled. He then came up and rubbed his head on mine.

"Run," I whispered into his ear, "Go back to Kupo Village, and tell Bibble that I'm ok."

"Rrrrk," he trilled and then sprinted off to the southern edge of the village.

When I looked back at Pantaro, I noticed that he was running after Jamie on all fours.

"No!" I yelled out and ran over to intercept him.

I quickly caught up and tackled him aside and away from Jamie as he made his getaway.

We landed and tumbled around each other until Pantaro kicked me off and away from him. I skidded on the ground a bit and then got up and looked at Pantaro, who was already up looking at me.

"Why did you attack him when your fight is with me?" I asked as I jump over to him and slashed my claws at him.

He stepped aside to dodge it, but I managed to slash his side before he elbowed me in the back sending me forward a few feet. I turned around just in time to slash him in the head just as he was lunging to slash me. He stepped back a moment.

"Because!" he growled, "His kind are pack mules for humans! They serve the humans, so they must suffer the same fate."

He lunged at me, as if to tackle me. I jumped up and over him as he passed me, and I kicked him in the back as I came down. He was still under my feet as we landed, so I bounced off of him to add damage. I bounced a few feet away from him.

He got up, holding his chest and breathing hard. He looked up at me. His eyes were flaring, and his lip was curled, baring his teeth. He walked up to me, still holding his chest. I lifted my hands up, claws extended, ready for whatever he was planning to do.

He stopped walking just a couple of feet in front of me. For a few moments, he just stood there, breathing and growling at me. I was starting to wonder if that bounce made him unable to continue the fight and he was just really pissed off about it. I started to relax after a few moments of him not doing anything. Big mistake.

"RRAAARRR!!!!" He roared as he suddenly jumped onto me, knocking me backwards onto my back.

With his hind legs on my belly, he used my bounce trick as I landed on the ground, knocking out of me the wind and the contents of my stomach. His bounce sent him a few feet past me. A second later I felt a severe pain on the top of my head as Pantaro grabbed me by my hair and lifted me up to my feet. He then shoved me forward, sending me stepping away from him and into a nearby tree.

I looked back at him just in time to see him lunging at me. I reacted by leaping aside, leaving him to ram his face into the tree. I locked my hands together and pounded down on his back, sending him into the tree's roots. I set my foot on his back to hold him down as I grabbed both of his arms and pulled them up towards me.

"RRAAAA!!!" He yelled out.

"Give up yet?" I asked.

"To a human?" he growled, "Never!"

With my foot still on his back, he pulled his arms back down, seemingly without effort, and sent me down with them, making me knee myself in the chest. After I let go of his arms, he pushed himself up, sending me stepping backwards. Before I could do anything he ran up, grabbed me by my head and my arm, and the last thing I saw was a tree rushing towards my face.

Hikorai

I was being pulled away from a tree that had a dripping red spot where my head was only an instant ago. My head and my arm were being held by someone who was standing behind me. There was a sharp pain in my forehead as this person held my head up by my hair.

"Still conscious?" growled the person behind me with a deep voice.

An instant later, all I saw was the tree rushing back at me.

Moira (Several hours later)

I woke up with a splitting headache and a sharp stinging pain in my forehead. I tried to reach my hand up to touch my head, but I found that both of my hands were tied behind me as I sat in the dirt, tied up to some large thing behind me that felt rough on my back. When I looked around, I found that I was in a dark underground room and surrounded by bars.

The room wasn't very tall. It looked like it would be just barely over my head if I were to stand up. The bars that surrounded me looked like they were made from branches or roots, and they went from the floor to the ceiling.

"Ooh… My head," I groaned, since my aching head was the only thing I could really think of.

"Ku… po?" I heard something gasp just to the right of me.

I looked over and saw that my cage shared the right-side wall with another cage. Though I was pretty sure there was a moogle in the other cage, I didn't see it at all because it was so dark.

A few seconds later I heard what sounded like many more "kupos" being whispered around.

"What?" I said, lost in all the "kupos" being whispered.

"She's awake, kupo," said a high-pitched voice.

"Are you alright, kupo?" Asked a squeaky male voice.

I then saw a moogle walk up to the bars near me. And then another walked up, and then another. After a moment, there were at least half a dozen moogles looking through the bars that the two cages shared.

"Yes, I guess," I answered, and then I realized that my voice was a little grainy, which was probably resulted from having stomach fluids rushed up my throat and never really having the chance to clear it out. I took a moment to cough it all out.

"You look like you got badly hit on the head, kupo," said a gruff-sounding older moogle.

"That bastard fought dirty," I replied, clearing my throat.

"Pantaro no like losing," an old voice replied from behind all the moogles.

The moogles stepped aside as an elderly moomba with poofy whiskers walked up to the bars.

"A moomba in prison?" I wondered out loud.

"This is Boonta, kupo" the gruff moogle said, "He was the moomba chief before Pantaro came. He was the only one who saw how wrong Pantaro's intentions were. When he tried to tell the tribe about it, kupo, he was thrown in here with us."

"The rest of us were thrown in here just for wandering away from home, kupo." Said another moogle.

"Kupo-po. I was only playing in the woods, kupo," whined a tiny moogle, "when a moomba grabbed me and threw me in here, kupo. And it hurt a lot, kupo."

"You help us?" Boonta asked.

"Maybe," I answered, "If I ever get out of here, that is."

Then I heard something approaching from outside. All the moogles got quiet, and Chief Boonta went back into the corner. Then there was some rattling at the door, which was directly in front of me. After a bit of rattling, it opened, revealing the moomba I knew to be Pantaro's sister, Taegra.

In one hand, she held a large stiff leaf with some fruit laying on it, while in the other she held a small, wet rag and a bowl filled with some green stuff. After entering the door, she quietly turned around and shut it. She walked up to my cage, opened it, and entered. She placed the food down on the ground and sat down in front of me still holding the rag and the small bowl in her hands.

"Hold still," she said, dipping the rag in the green stuff.

"What? Why?" I replied, annoyed that she was telling me what to do.

"This is an herbal medicine that'll help your wounds heal faster. It will sting for a while, so hold still."

"My wounds already sting, so get on with it."

She then started rubbing my forehead with the rag. For the first few seconds, my forehead felt like it was on fire.

"Dah!" I yelped, shocked at the sudden stinging.

"I told you so," she said as she used the other side of the rag to wipe the blood from the rest of my face. After that she placed the rag and the bowl aside and looked up at me.

For a good long moment, she just sat there staring at me. Examining me. She mostly stared me in the face.

"What?" I asked when I couldn't stand the silent staring anymore.

"Are you really a human?" She asked. Her voice sounded soft and deep, and her tone was sweet. She seemed to be genuinely curious of whether or not I was actually human.

"I used to be," I answered.

"So you weren't born looking like that?"

"No, I wasn't."

"Then Pantaro was wrong when he said that all humans are evil."

"What do you mean?"

"We knew that you would come for your chocobo because he's your means of travel over land, but I didn't expect you to put yourself in harm's way to save him."

"He's not just my ride," I explained. "He's one of my dearest and closest friends. I could never forgive myself if I ever allowed anything happen to him."

"Friends…" She replied, "So Pantaro was wrong about friends being a figment of the imagination?"

"From what I can see, Pantaro's wrong about a lot of things."

"Pantaro is my older brother. He has seen more than me, so I always assumed that he knew more."

"Just how much older than you is he?"

"Nine months. And Jaga was born five months after me."

"Nine months? Five months? Were your parents really bored or something? 'Cause I know moomba pregnancies are four months long."

"We only had a mother. She was a normal moomba who lived in a cage that a human kept her in. Pantaro said that this human would take our mother out of her cage and put her through terrible tortures, and each time this happened, one of us was born from her. She died giving birth to Jaga. I was very young when she died, so I barely remember any of it."

"So your mother was a science experiment, and the three of you were the end result," I concluded, "I can see why Pantaro would think humans are evil when you were born in such an awful place."

"How did you come to look the way you do?" She asked.

"Well, to put it simply, I was also a science experiment, and the way I look now is the end result."

"You were also put through tortures?"

"Yes."

"Then perhaps we're not so different after all."

She got up and ripped apart the vines that held me captive.

"You're letting me go?"

"No," She answered and picked up the leaf with the fruit, "But you'll need your hands to eat your food."

She handed the leaf to me.

"Oh," I replied and looked down at he leaf of food in my hands. I raised an eyebrow and looked back up at Taegra.

"It's not poisoned," she answered before I could ask.

"And you're so sure that I won't run away?"

"If you're not as evil as Pantaro says you are, I don't think you would leave all these moogles behind."

"So why don't you let them go?"

"The way things are now, they'll be caught and put back in here anyway. So why bother?"

"Hmm," I replied as I picked up one of the fruit and ate it.

There was a long uneasy silence after that. Aside from the munching and chewing in my mouth, there was no sound.

I looked up at Taegra, who was just sitting there, staring down at the ground between us. She looked concentrated, like she was trying to figure something out.

"I don't understand," she said finally.

"What?" I asked.

"You are a human, but you seem like such a good person. I'm starting to think that Pantaro doesn't know as much as he thinks he does."

"I already knew that the moment he started pointing his hate for humans at me. I'm sorry if that offends you, but I did nothing to deserve what he gave me."

"No, you're right. It was wrong," she said and stood up to leave, "All of this is wrong. I've known that since the beginning, but I ignored it. The moogles are good people. It's not right for us to treat them this way. I'll talk to Pantaro to see if maybe I can make him see that."

"Heh, Good luck," I scoffed, knowing that it probably wouldn't work. "Shouldn't you tie me back up?"

"I don't really think it's necessary," she said as she exited the cage and locked it behind her. "It was a pleasure talking to you."

"Uh, no problem," I answered as she walked out of the room and shut the door.

"Taegra!" Yelled a young male voice outside. "What were you doing in there? You were only supposed to give the human her food and leave!"

"I was just asking her some questions, Jaga," she answered.

"What?!" He burst, "If Pantaro ever found out, we'd both be in trouble! What are you doing conversing with her? She's evil!"

"She's not evil!" She snapped back, "And you know it! You saw what she did for that chocobo! You know as well as I do that what we're doing is wrong!"

"I know that! The moogles shouldn't have been involved in this, but Pantaro said that humans are evil creatures that need to be exterminated!"

"Pantaro is wrong."

"How are you so sure, Taegra? He is our older brother. He's seen the evil humans that killed our mother."

"So have I. I was very young, but I was around just long enough to have seen them before mother died. This human is nothing like them. She is a good person."

There was a moment of silence after that. Since I couldn't see what was going on, I assumed it meant that Jaga had run out of excuses for Pantaro.

"Are you sure she's not evil?" Jaga asked, finally, this time in a calm voice. "What if she's lying?"

"I'm certain of it. She cares about her chocobo and for the moogles. Why else would she get in Pantaro's way like that when he attacked her chocobo?"

He paused for a moment.

"I don't know," he answered. "I don't know what to think anymore. At any rate we can't let Pantaro know about this."

"We have to. If we don't, this insanity will never end, and more people will be hurt, or even killed, whether they're human or not."

"You're right," he replied with a sigh. "Let's go before we're caught here."

"Right."

After that, all I heard were their footsteps as they walked away. There was only silence. I looked over to the cage next to me to see if the moogles were alright.

"Is… everyone still alive in there?" I asked.

"Yes, kupo," the gruff moogle answered. "We were only startled."

"Good," I replied as I leaned back on the large thing I was tied to just a moment ago, which turned out to be a large root growing down into the room from above. I let out a long sigh.

"Are YOU alright, kupo?" asked the small child moogle.

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm just wondering if my chocobo made it safely to Kupo Village."

"I don't doubt he did, kupo," the gruff moogle replied.

"I can't help but worry more about him. He's not exactly a young chocobo anymore."

"I think the moombas were too busy watching you fight to think about him, kupo. He should be fine."

"I guess you're right," I sighed.

I just sat there, leaning on the root in the middle of my cage, thinking about my situation and wondering what was going to happen next. Eventually, after a long while of thinking, I ended up just dozing off, even with the moogles "kupoing" in the background.

(Several Hours Later)

I woke up to a lot of chattering in the background. When I realized that it was coming from outside, I perked my ears up to see if I could figure out what was going on.

The moombas outside seemed upset about something. There was a lot of chatter, but nothing coherent. After a moment of this they all suddenly stopped, and there was an odd silence. There were footsteps approaching the prison.

The door opened, revealing Taegra, and the nighttime darkness beyond the doorway. She walked in with Jaga close behind. She came up to my cage, and Jaga went to the moogle cage.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"I spoke to the tribe got just about all of them to agree with me," Taegra answered as she opened my cage door. "We're going to let you out, all of you. I want everything to be alright between our two peoples again. And I don't want to start a war with humanity."

"Now it's just a matter of getting Pantaro to agree with us," Jaga continued as he opened the moogle cage.

"So you're starting a revolution?" I asked.

"If that's what you want to call it," Taegra answered. "Yes."

After the cages opened, the moogles poured out of the cage and stood there with Jaga.

"We want to help, kupo," said the gruff moogle.

"Kupo kupopo!" the other moogles agreed.

"Me too," I said, looking down at the moogles. "What can we do?"

"You really want to help us?" Jaga asked, looking up at me, "Even after everything we've done?"

"As far as I'm concerned, the only one to blame for this mess here is Pantaro," I answered, "So of course I'll help you."

"In that case, all of you should stay in here for the time being," Taegra answered. "Pantaro will immediately want to fight if he sees you again. Let us try to negotiate with him. We may have a better chance of success now that we have followers."

"If the negotiations fail and things get messy," I said, "I'm going to jump in."

"Whatever you think is best," Taegra replied.

"I go with you," said an old voice from inside the moogle cage. After a moment, Boonta walked out, looking up at Taegra and Jaga. "I help."

"Chief Boonta," Taegra said and knelt down to speak face-to-face with him. "Are you sure?"

"Is my tribe, too," he explained. "I go help."

"Alright," Taegra smiled and got back up.

"Come on," Jaga said and walked to the door. "Pantaro will be out any minute."

He opened it and let Boonta out first, and then Taegra, and then himself. He shut the door behind them, leaving me with the moogles.

"So what's gonna happen now, kupo?" asked the small child moogle, looking up at me.

"I wish I knew," I answered. "This is one of the weirdest situations I've ever been in, so I have no idea what to expect."

After a moment, I sat down and leaned back on one of the cages. I wondered what was happening, and how Taegra and Jaga planned on negotiating with a stubborn jerk like Pantaro. I was pretty sure that they weren't going to be able to get it done by talking to him, seeing that he was so stubborn and opinionated.

"Maybe that's what they need so many other moombas for," I thought to myself. "Two isn't as convincing as twenty."

I then heard the moombas outside growling and chattering again.

Then I heard what sounded like a door being slammed open.

"What is going on?!" He demanded. "What is the meaning of this?! Why is the old one not in the prison with the human and the moogles?!"

"Because we want this madness to stop, Pantaro!" Taegra answered.

"Madness? Madness?! What madness?! Our tribe must know that they are strong so that we may go forth and destroy the evil that is humanity!"

"Not all humans are evil, Pantaro," Taegra replied. "The human that came here for the chocobo proved that. She is not an evil person."

"You've spoken to her, haven't you? Even after I told you not to! You let her lies poison your mind, and now you've turned the whole tribe against me!"

"I knew your methods were wrong even before she came here. The moogles were close friends to this tribe."

"There's no such thing as friendship. You can only count on yourself, your family, your people."

"That's just it, Pantaro. These moombas are not our people," Jaga replied. "Yes we were born from a moomba mother, but we're too different. Look around. Look at the tribe. We tower over them like the human does. We don't have the simple minds of the moombas. We think like humans. We're bigger, stronger, smarter. Pantaro, don't you see? We don't belong with them. We would be better off living with humans."

"Are you crazy?!"

"Think about it Pantaro," Taegra spoke again, "We were born in a science lab. The end result of an experiment."

"A product of human science!" Pantaro yelled out, "Our mother was killed by their human scientific tortures!"

"Like you said, we are a product of human science," Jaga said, "We're not normal."

"So you're saying that we're freaks, are you?" Pantaro growled, "I was right, the human has poisoned your thinking. She may be a freak amongst her own kind, but we're not."

"Geez, his hate makes him blind," I thought as I listened.

A couple of seconds later, a familiar moogle popped up in front of my face.

"Miss Moira!" Bibble whispered as she teleported in, "Are you ok, kupo? Jamie told us what happened, and we were worried, kupo. Rumple and I came as soon as we thought it was safe. Kupo! That's a nasty wound on your head!"

"Bibble, will you shut up so I can hear what's going on outside? Taegra and Jaga are trying to convince Pantaro to stop his vendetta on humans and leave the moogles alone. They pretty much have the whole tribe behind them."

"So his siblings don't agree with him, kupo?"

"Nope. They're more level-headed than he is, apparently. I told them that if things got too ugly, I'd jump in and help. I don't know what the moogles here intend on doing, but I'm gonna fight."

"Kupo?" She looked down and saw the other moogles in the prison with me. "Kupo! The missing moogles from the village!"

"Kupo. Good to see you too, Holly," greeted the gruff moogle.

"Uncle Moo!" Bibble flew down and hugged him. "I didn't know you were one of the missing, kupo."

"Of course not, kupo." He replied, annoyed, "Nobody ever notices when old Uncle Moo goes missing."

"Kupo-o-o…" Bibble whined.

"RAARRRR!!!" Roared Pantaro from outside.

Suddenly there was a whole mess of roaring and growling.

"That's my cue," I said and rushed to the door, but then paused, "Wait, you said Rumple came with you. Where is he?"

Then the door opened in front of me, revealing Rumple.

"Oh, it wasn't locked, kupo." Rumple said with a grin, "How are you, Miss Moira?"

"Confused, but that's not important right now," I replied and rushed past Rumple, "I have a fight to get to."

I looked up and saw a two on one fight between Pantaro and his siblings, and it looked like Pantaro was winning. He was able to shake one off and fight the other for a few seconds and then shove that one off when the first one came back.

I couldn't see the details of the fight very well because we were a good distance away, and their fight was kicking up a lot of dust. As I started to approach, the dust started to clear, revealing that Pantaro had both Taegra and Jaga pinned down to the ground. He'd somehow managed to grab both of their throats to hold them down. I then started running to get there faster.

I readied my claws, raising my hands so I could strike when I got there. As I finally arrived, I started to swing my arm to claw him in the back, but then he spun around and grabbed my arm. He squeezed it, digging his claws into my wrist. I had to struggle not to let out a sound with the sharp pain. I looked past him for a split second and found Taegra and Jaga, lying lifeless on the ground. I looked back up at Pantaro, and was met with a terrifying glare from his ferocious moomba eyes.

"YOU!!!" He growled in my face. "You turned my tribe against me! You and your evil kind will pay for this! I will have my war, with or without an army! I will destroy you all, one by one, until every last one of you is gone!"

"You're so blinded by your hate, Pantaro," I replied, wincing from the pain in my arm, "I'll bet you don't even know how to love anymore."

He then squeezed harder, his claws cutting into my flesh, drawing out trickles of blood.

"Of course I do! I've done this all for my people! My family!"

"What good is a family," I said with a painful pause, "if you don't love them? You've done all this to satisfy your hate. Your little vendetta hasn't done anything good to these moombas that you call your people. It only brought pain and suffering to both of the villages in this forest. It was wrong, and they knew it. That's why they turned against you. I had nothing to do with it."

"LIAR!!!" He screamed as he threw my now bleeding arm down and lunged at me. But before he could reach me…

"KUPOKUPOKUPOKUPO!!!" I heard rushing up behind me.

Then about seven or eight moogles flew into him from behind me, pushing him backward. Two of them were latched onto his face, one of them I recognized for her pink fur and blue pompom.

"Bibble!" I called.

Pantaro then scrambled his arms around, trying to get the moogles off of him. He managed to get half of them off, but they just flew right back. After a moment of that, he threw one into a nearby tree, knocking him unconscious. I realized immediately that it was the little gruff moogle whom Bibble had called "Uncle Moo".

My blood started boiling at that point. I then forgot about the pain in my arm and rammed into Pantaro, pushing him into the tree behind him. He still had moogles on his face, so he couldn't do much to avoid it.

He then somehow managed to throw all of us off of him and then let out a roar that could've been heard for miles.

After that, he glared my way, focusing all his attention on me. We were only a few feet away from each other, so focusing on the target in front of him wasn't very hard. After a moment of hard staring, he lunged at me, claws extended. Before I could react, I suddenly found myself behind him instead of in front. He was still in half-lunge, but his target had disappeared from in front of him, causing him to fall flat on his face.

I looked over at Bibble, who just smiled and waved her tiny moogle hand at me. I smiled back for a second before realizing that Pantaro was still there. He got back up, and looked around in a confused daze. He finally spotted me behind him and his anger only seemed to have gotten worse.

"How did you do that?!" He demanded.

"That's not your business," I answered. "Now you will stop all this, and let the moogles and the moombas live in peace again, or you can keep going with this stupid vendetta of yours and we can continue with this pointless fight."

"Pointless, you say?" he replied.

"Yes, pointless. You are outnumbered and overpowered. I don't see any point in continuing."

"I'm not finished!" He replied and lunged again.

I again was poofed out of the way, making him ram face first into the tree. He turned around and growled, nose bleeding.

"You were not able to do that before," he growled.

He then looked past me and seemed to have seen something interesting.

"Oh, I see," he said with a grin. "One of those moogles has the power to make you conveniently disappear."

He then started walking towards the moogles floating behind me, amongst them Bibble and Rumple. I stepped up in front of him to keep him away from them. I was less than a foot away from him.

"You will not hurt them," I demanded.

"Hmph," He grunted and then I was suddenly not able to breathe. "Gotcha!"

Surprised I looked down at the arm that seemingly rushed up from nowhere. I couldn't see the hand because it was tightly wrapped around my neck, and growing tighter. He brought his other hand up to join in the strangling. Having both hands firmly gripped on my throat, he lifted me up about a foot off the ground.

"Lets see you try and disappear from this," he growled.

"Bibble!" I called in thought, not sure if she would catch it with the other moogles around. "Help!"

"Oh no, kupo!"

My vision had started to go dark, but then I was suddenly let go. I landed on with a thus on my back, and my head bumped the ground when I landed, but the only thing on my mind was the long moment I took to inhale, after which I started coughing.

When I looked up, I saw Pantaro grasping at his belly, and then I realized that I was a lot further from the fight than I was earlier. I then noticed that Bibble was hovering right next to me.

"Miss Moira, are you ok, kupo?" she asked in a soft voice.

I was still gasping for air when she asked.

"Uh-huh…" was all I could let out.

We looked up and found Pantaro rushing up to us. He slashed past me and tore through Bibble's right wing, as she was barely able to react.

"AHH!" she screamed as she tumbled to the ground.

"You're the one with the power," Pantaro growled and lifted his hand up over her. "I'll make sure you don't get in the way again."

"NO!" Called a voice from where the other moogles were.

I then saw Rumple fly up and ram into Pantaro's back, and it was hard enough that it knocked Pantaro facedown into the ground. Since he fell with his legs right next to me, I took the opportunity and grabbed them both, holding them together. Before Pantaro could do anything, I saw some of the moombas come up to help hold Pantaro down. Two of them grabbed his hands and held them behind his back. Two others grabbed his legs so I could let go. One more was holding his head down. And some others were just pushing down on his back so he'd stay down. Then, I saw Taegra and Jaga slowly come up with vines similar to those used to tie me up earlier.

I then ran over to where Bibble landed. She was wincing from the pain in her wing, which was almost nonexistent now, but otherwise she was fine. This brought relief to both Rumple and me.

"Holly!" he called in relief and embraced her.

"Rumple," Bibble sobbed.

I looked off to the tree we were fighting at before and spotted Uncle Moo still laying there beside the tree. I ran over to see if he was alright. When I got to him, I was scared that I'd find him dead, but to my amazement, he was breathing. He was still unconscious, but at least he was breathing. I lifted him up in my arms and carried him back to where everyone else was, where they had just started tying up Pantaro.

After a few long hours of Pantaro struggling, we managed to get him tied up and locked in the same prison he had me and the moogles kept in, tied to the same large, overhanging root I was tied to, and it was all finished just in time for us to see the sun come up over the forest.

We all stood at the center of the moomba village, happily greeting the new day.

"I'm so glad it's finally over," I said.

"Yes," Taegra agreed, "It feels good to be at peace again."

She then looked at the gruff little moogle who was now snoring in my arms.

"Will he be alright?" She asked.

"Yeah, I think he's recovered now," I answered, raising an eyebrow as he snored away.

I then put him down on the ground, and he immediately woke up.

"Hey! What happened, kupo?" he asked as he woke up and stood up, "Is the fight over?"

"Yes, it is. Do you remember anything?" I asked.

"Last thing I remember was being thrown into a tree, kupo. Then everything went blank."

"Must not've been thrown into it very hard, than." I said.

"That's good," Taegra replied.

"What will happen to Pantaro, kupo?" Rumple asked.

"He will stay tied up as he is," Jaga answered, looking to the prison. "At least until he has learned his mistakes."

"And if that doesn't happen?" I asked.

"Let us worry about that," Taegra answered. "Now that he is where he can't cause any more damage, we can start the slow process of reasoning with him. Eventually he will calm down enough for his logic to come back. I know it's in there somewhere, and I know that someday, we'll be able to reach it."

"But I'm afraid we might have to find somewhere else to do it," Jaga added, "As I said before, we are way too different from the moombas here. We don't belong."

"And we don't deserve to stay here either, after all the trouble we made," Taegra added.

"Wait," Chief Boonta said and stepped up to Taegra, "You stay. With tribe. You belong."

"But we don't," Taegra insisted, "We don't fit in."

"Yes you do," Boonta insisted back. "You still moombas. All moombas belong with tribe. Big moombas. Small moombas. Stripes and spots. No difference. All belong. All are family. Actually. After Boonta gone, want Taegra lead tribe next."

Taegra's eyes then widened with surprise. "You want ME to be the next Chief?"

"Why not? You wise, you smart, you able to protect village from danger. You convince tribe Pantaro wrong. You lead tribe when Boonta gone."

Taegra just stood there for a moment, staring down at Boonta. She then bent down on one knee and bowed her head down.

"I am honored," Taegra said, "Thank you so much, Chief Boonta."

"And Boonta thank you," He paused a moment and then looked up at me, "And Boonta thank you, Human Moira. If you not come, village would never found peace again."

"I only did what I thought was right," I replied with a bow.

"No, he's right, Moira." Taegra said, "You helped us find the courage to stand up to Pantaro. He would surely have done greater harm to both villages if you'd come any later."

"You wiped out all our doubts about humans," Jaga added, "You proved that not all humans are evil like the ones that tortured our mother."

"Keep in mind that not all of them are good either." I replied, "There's a good deal of bad humans out there. Sometimes it seems the evil outnumbers the good, especially for someone like me, who can't exactly blend into a crowd."

"But there IS good," Taegra pointed out. "And that knowledge is all that matters to us."

I smile at this. I looked down at the eight moogles assembled beside me and then looked back up at the moombas.

"Well, I guess we should get back to Kupo Village. I'll be glad to see Jamie again."

"Jamie? Is that the chocobo?" Taegra asked, "If it is, please tell him that we're sorry for any pain we may have caused him."

"Of course," I nodded.

"And…" Taegra paused as she walked up to me. She then held her hand up in front of me, "I know that you will be leaving the island soon. So I will say that if you're ever around the island again, please come back and visit us."

"Sure," I accepted and took her hand. We then shook on it. "I'll be sure to visit both villages the next time I'm in the neighborhood. If I can find 'em, that is."

"Be sure you do," Jaga replied, "Maybe by then, Pantaro will have come to his senses."

"Heh, somehow I doubt it," I laughed, "He seems to be a tough nut to crack. So I wish you luck on reasoning with him."

"And we wish you luck on your journey," Taegra replied, "Whatever it is you are looking for, we hope you find it."

"Thanks," I said and then started walking away towards the edge of the village.

The moogles were all floating in front of me, except for Bibble, who walked a few steps ahead of me. I looked down at her, seeing what was left of her right wing bandaged up.

"Are you gonna be ok, Bibble?" I asked, pointing to her wing.

"Yes, kupo," she answered in a dull tone, "I won't be able to fly anymore, but that's not so bad. I can still teleport to get to places quickly."

"About that, something about it has been bothering me?"

"Oh, kupo?"

"While I was in the prison, the other moogles were in the prison with me. I remembered your teleporting ability and wondered why they couldn't use that to get out."

"That's easy, kupo. I'm the only one that HAS that ability."

"I figured. Why is that?"

"It's something that happens every few generations, kupo. One moogle is born with odd coloring and some extra power. My extra power is teleporting, kupo."

"I see," I replied as we finally arrived at the village.

Almost immediately when I entered the village, I was greeted with a large feathered head in my face.

"Wark! War-ark! Warrrrk!" Jamie greeted, rubbing his head all over me.

I giggled a moment and then hugged Jamie.

"I'm so glad you're ok," I greeted back.

"R-r-r-rk," Jamie cooed back and gently rubbed his head on my face, expressing the same feeling I had.

"We're all glad to see you safe, kupo," Said Chief Poku from behind Jamie. "All of you."

"Mama!" Squealed the small child moogle as she rushed off to greet her mother.

It made me happy to see that everything was happy and peaceful in the village again.

"Will you be staying at all, kupo?" the Chief asked me, "Or should we just pack you some food for your journey? I'm sure you're eager to get back to it."

I looked down at the Chief, still amazed he could read me so well. He acted as if he'd known me for years.

"Before you answer that question, kupo," Rumple interrupted. "I want to ask Holly something."

"Me, kupo?" Bibble replied.

"Yes, you. When I saw Pantaro tear your wing off, kupo, I thought it was going to be much worse. I thought I was going to lose you. I don't ever want to feel that way again."

He took her hands in his and then bent down on one knee, just as done in a certain human custom.

"Please, Holly Bibble," he began, "Will you marry me, kupo?"

Bibble, caught totally by surprise, just stood there as her slit eyes filled up with tears and a big smile grew on her face. She then lunged at Rumple, wrapping her arms around him and bawling all over his shoulder.

"Yes, Rumple," She answered, finally, "Yes, I will, kupo."

I was so happy for her, that I couldn't help but also shed a couple of tears.

"Congrats, Bibble," I said, "Be sure to let me know when it happens. Somehow. Even if you have to send a carrier moogle from Mognet to track me down, let me know."

"Of course, kupo," Bibble sobbed and wiped away some tears. "I was planning on staying here anyways. Without my wing, kupo, I'm flightless now, so I'd just slow you down. "

"And I don't want you to push yourself to keep up with me," I replied, "I think Jamie and I will be able to handle ourselves well enough. Won't we, Jamie?"

"War-r-rk." Jamie answered.

"Be sure you do, kupo," Bibble replied and then came walking up to me.

I sat down in front of her, and we just looked at each other for a moment. After a while, I noticed my vision blurring from tears welling up in my eyes.

Bibble then rushed up and we hugged each other. I held her tight for what seemed like forever. It was then that I felt the tears running down my face.

"I'm so gonna miss you and your annoying little face," I sobbed.

"And I'm gonna miss you and your grouchiness, kupo," she sobbed back.

We held each other for a few more minutes before we finally let go. I wiped the remaining tears from my face, and looked down at the little pink moogle with the dark pink wing and the blue pompom dangling over her head.

I kept my sight set on her as I stood back up and took a step backward.

"This brings me back to my last question, kupo," Chief Poku stepped in, "Are you sure you can't stay for even a little while longer?"

"The next boat leaves this afternoon, kupo," Bibble reminded. "If you want to go to Mideel before then, you should go now."

"I know," I replied, "I want to go back to my search, but I don't want to leave just yet."

"Don't stay for me, kupo," Bibble insisted, "We don't know when the next boat after that will come here. Or even if there ever WILL be another boat, kupo. You shouldn't take that chance."

"You're right," I admitted, "So I guess… This is good-bye…"

"Only for now, kupo," she answered, "I know it won't be forever."

"Right. So… Until next time?" I said as I knelt down and held up my hand to her.

"Yes, kupo," she answered and took my hand with both of hers, "Next time."

I then stood back up and led Jamie towards the edge of the village.

At the edge, I paused a moment to look back. I knew that this would be the last time I would see Holly Bibble for a very long time. I gave a good long look, waved, and then turned around to leave. Back through the forest, and out to the path to Mideel.

(Couple of Hours of Pathwalking Later )

Jamie and I finally arrived at the remains of the small town of Mideel. The town Raven was born and grew up in. The town destroyed by the Ultima Weapon during the Meteor Crisis. The town that was now a crater filled with Lifestream. The town was recently completely abandoned. The villagers had tried to rebuild the town around the crater, but all attempts proved futile, so instead, they moved. And now the place just looked like a ghost town at the edge of a cliff, waiting to fall into the Lifestream.

I'd visited the town once early in my search, but wasn't thorough. This visit, I wasn't expecting anything incredible, just a clue.

I looked around to see if anything had changed since my last visit. I found that it did. There was a stone neatly set on a small mound of dirt on the side of the town. I walked over to the stone and noticed something written on it. After reading it, I dropped to my knees, not just from the shock, but also to make sure I read it right. The words I read on this stone would come to haunt me for many years to come.

**IN SPOT REST  
THE REMAINS OF THE  
****MAN ONCE KNOWN AS**

**RAVEN**

**THE YOUNG SOLDIER STILL  
****AWAITING HIS SWEET  
****LOVELY LADY**


	15. Ch 13: Why Me?

Chapter XIII 

**Why Me?**

(1 Year Later) Year 10 After Midgar

It was just before dawn. The sun had just started to rise from the horizon, painting that part of the sky with colors that ranged from a light yellow to a dark orange. The rest of the sky was still dark and filled with many of the stars that had been shining that night. With every passing moment, the midnight blue of the sky became a little lighter as each of the stars faded away with the coming of the sun.

I stood at the mouth of the island canyon, looking at the stringy little man standing in front of me. His name was Sim, and he was rumored in the black market as being able to find anything anyone could ever need. All of the rumors said something along the lines of "If it exists, he can find it, obtain it, and get it to you fast… for a price."

I wore my hood a little further down than usual, making sure that he didn't see my face. I had trouble seeing anything at all, but that didn't matter at the moment.

"Are you SURE this is what you want?" he asked, looking down at the list I'd given him, "'Cuz this is really potent stuff. And some of this is really rare"

"I know that, Sim" I answered, getting annoyed that he was questioning me. "Can you get it for me or not?"

"Or course I can. That's not a problem," he answered.

"Good. When can I expect you back with it?"

"If I go at a good pace, I should have it all here by tomorrow."

"Can you get it here tonight?" I asked.

"Tonight? Well, that's a bit of a stretch, but--"

"I'll double your pay."

"You'll have it by sunset," he replied with a wide grin on his face, "What do you need it all for, anyway? Just curious."

"I think it would be best if you didn't ask me that. Just get me what I asked for."

"Yes ma'am. I'll have it for you by sunset."

"You'll know where to find me."

"Of course," He bowed and ran off out of my sight.

"Finally, everything is coming together," I thought as I looked away from the canyon to the town in the distance.

I started walking towards the town as my mind started wandering. Remembering everything that's happened in the last year. After leaving Mideel, I'd spent several months doing nothing but researching and planning for my next move.

Jamie had died in his old age just weeks before I came to this canyon-ridden island. It was a peaceful, painless death, while he was sleeping. The vet that examined him afterwards said that his heart stopped in his sleep, but also said that he didn't suffer as he died. He was at peace. Though this made me feel a little better about it, it didn't stop it from hurting. Jamie was one of my closest friends, and I knew I would never forget him.

"I wonder if Raven had a peaceful death," I thought to myself as I kept my steady pace towards the town.

After my experience in Mideel, I could never get the image of that stone out of my mind. The words on the stone were engraved into my every thought. With all the years I'd searched for him, I wound up finding a grave. I tried easing this thought by reminding myself that he was a Jenova Case, which severely lowered my chances of finding him alive anyway.

"I shouldn't have been so shocked," I thought to myself, "But still, I feel empty now. And now with Jamie gone, I am completely alone."

I finally arrived at my destination. I stopped at the entrance of the town. It was the town of Wutai, a town famed as being the home of some of the world's greatest martial arts masters. It was also rumored to be the home of some of the world's most notorious ninjas, thieves, and black market dealers. For the moment, I was done dealing with the black market and was on my way to the bar.

As I approached, I could hear the usual sounds of drunken merry men, laughing and drinking their cares away. I was going there to drink, but there was nothing for me to laugh about. I envied them for that.

"I never once was happy at a bar," I pointed out in thought as I reached the door, "Neither walking in, nor walking out, nor anywhere in between. So why do I bother?"

The moment I entered the building, everything went silent. The townspeople have become familiar with my mysterious cloak and hood, but they knew nothing about me. I was fine with that.

"Because drinking is the only thing that helps me forget," I answered myself.

They all feared me. I could smell it. The place stank of adrenaline just moments after I opened the door. This was something I'd gotten used to in the two weeks I'd been in Wutai. I ignored the stench and made my way to the counter. I found an empty stool and sat on it. I looked in the direction of the bartender, who only shifted his gaze at me as he cleaned off the glass mug in his hand. When he noticed I was looking at him, he quickly put the mug down and hurried over to me.

"Uh, yes. M-Might I be of service to you?" he stuttered, rubbing his hands together in his nervousness.

"Your strongest drink," I answered, pulling out a large pouch of money, one of several pouches I was carrying and part of a large sum I'd been saving all year, "Serve it in the largest mug you have, and lots of it. In fact, after you pour it for me, just leave the bottle next to the mug."

He gave a quick bow and then, without hesitation, grabbed a very large mug from behind the counter. He then pulled out a dark red bottle with a black label that was shaped in the silhouette of a dragon breathing fire. The neck and mouth of the bottle looked like the neck and head of a dragon holding the cork in its mouth.

"This drink is called 'Blood of the Black Dragon'," The bartender explained. "It is sixty-five percent alcohol by volume, one hundred twenty proof. Only a rare few have had more than a few shots of this and lived to talk about it. Are you SURE this is what you want to drink? In a mug? Especially one this large?"

"Yes," I answered, "I'm certain of it. Though I was hoping for a larger percentage, this will serve my purpose."

"Wha!" The bartender yelped, seemingly surprised that I wanted a larger percentage. "Uh… Ok." He said as he reluctantly poured the drink, which was a clear dark red color, into the mug and laid both the mug and the bottle in front of me. "Here ya go… Enjoy."

"Thanks, I will," I said as I immediately grabbed the handle of the mug, lifted it up to my face, and took a nice long drink from it.

It had a berry flavor to it, at least right before the alcohol kicked in. It certainly was a strong drink. I immediately felt the familiar tingle through my body as the alcohol was quickly absorbed into my bloodstream. I then took another drink from the mug. This time the strength of the alcohol kicked me in the throat. The tingling grew a little more intense for a moment, but then dulled down. I didn't want it to dull down. So I took another drink.

With this drink, I placed the mug down on the table. It was then that I noticed that the people in the bar had continued making their noise, but now among the normal bar noises, there were whispers going on around me. And I could tell that they were also ABOUT me. One particular conversation caught my interest just a few stools down to my right. I took sips from my mug as I listened.

"Check out Mr. Black Hood over there?" One voice whispered.

"Yeah, he's real freaky," A deeper voice whispered.

"How do you know he's a he?"

"Who cares? He's creepy! Word around town is that he's making deals with the shadier folk in this town."

"I hear he's a hideous monster, and that's why he hides under the hood."

"Dude! What if he's listening?"

"We're all the way over here, stupid, and we're whispering. Nobody could hear us from that far."

"Nobody with normal human hearing," I thought. "Idiot."

"I heard that this mysterious hooded person is actually a woman," A rougher voice whispered in. "And rumor has it she's sexy."

"Who would know with that cloak on?" the deeper-voice whispered back, "And if this person is a sexy woman as rumored, why would she be hiding under a hood?"

"Beats me, but it would be nice if it was true."

"I dare you to go and find out."

"You DARE me?"

"That's right, I dare you. As a matter of fact, I triple-dog dare you. Walk up to Mr. Spooky Cloak and talk to 'im. Find out whether he's a man or a woman. And if you back out, you're buying my drinks."

"Dammit, Mac!" the rough guy whispered to the deep-voice, "You're just lookin' for an excuse to make me to pay for your drinks! Well, it ain't workin'. I accept your dare!"

"Alright, Brooter, go for it."

"Yeah, Brooter, go talk to 'im."

"Don't make me pound you, Teebo," Brooter said to the other guy.

"Just go already," said the one he called Mac.

I then heard some heavy steps come up behind me as I drank the last drops from the mug, placed it on the counter, and poured more from the bottle. My vision had already started to wobble as my equilibrium fell out of whack, and this was while I was still sitting down. I suddenly felt a large set of fingers poking me in the back.

"Hey! Hey you!" yelled the big man behind me as he continued poking.

I finished refilling my drink and then slowly turned around, not saying a word.

"I-uh… want to ask you something," He asked, suddenly softening his voice, "Um… Are you really a… woman under there?"

I just sat there, silent. It seemed stupid that he would ask such a stupid question. I responded by promptly turning back around in my seat and continuing with my drink.

"Hey!" He burst out, "I asked you somethin'! Now answer me!"

He then grabbed my right shoulder with his big strong hand.

"I said!" he started, "Answer me!"

He then yanked my shoulder backward, knocking me out of my seat, mug still in hand. I landed with my right side hitting the hard wood floor. My mug went flying away from me, spilling 'Blood of The Black Dragon' all over the place.

As I started my attempt at standing up, I heard gasps coming from all around me. When I finally wobbled up onto my feet, I noticed that my range of vision was wide open, meaning that my hood was no longer over my head.

"Holy shit!" Mac gasped from his seat on the counter.

"What the hell is that?" The one called Teebo asked.

"Well, I guess both rumors were true," Brooter spoke up behind me. "A monster AND a woman."

"Looks more like a pussycat than a monster," Mac said, getting up off his seat and walking up to me. "They were right about her being sexy, though."

He then ran his greasy hand through my hair, and then continuing downward as he spoke.

"Whaddaya say, Pussycat? Hmm? Wanna show daddy what's under the rest of that cloak?"

As his hand got down to my hips, my temper stepped in as my hand reached up and grabbed Mac by the throat.

"GHK! GGGHHHKK!" He gagged as I lifted him up a couple of inches from the floor, still holding him by the throat. I could feel the alcoholic tingle surging through my arm as I held him up.

"If you touch me one more time," I growled, a little slurred, "I will make you wish you were dead, and I won't be giving you that pleasure."

I let go of the man's throat, letting him drop back down to the floor. He then took a moment to gasp and cough for air.

After a few moments, when he recovered, he looked up at me with narrowed eyes and a wide grin on his face.

"Oh yeah, there's no doubt you're a woman," he grinned with satisfaction. "And I like my women extra feisty."

"I should've known I'd find the village idiot in a bar," I grumbled. "I only want to be left alone with my drink."

"But hang on, now, Pussycat," Mac said, keeping his grin on as he started to approach me again. "Why would you want to sit with a boring ol' drink when you can have some fun with three lonely guys like us?"

He then lifted his hand up and placed it under my chin, wrapping his fingers around my jaw. He was drooling a bit, but then he quickly licked it away. Having his hand on my face felt dirty. I reacted by quickly punching him in the face, sending him flying back away from me. As he got up, I could see some blood trickling from the corner of his mouth and from his nose.

"'Cuz I can always be sure a boring ol' drink won't make perverted moves on me. I don't like perverts. One more move like that, and I'll make sure you're never able to have any children for as long as you live."

"You bitch!" Teebo yelled out after seeing his friend punched in the face, "You can't do that to Mac!"

"Hang on, Teebo," Mac interrupted, "This is getting interesting."

"Need a little help convincing her, Mac?" Brooter said, pounding his fist into his other hand as he stood behind me.

"Heh, maybe I do," Mac answered, "She's had some to drink already, so it shouldn't be too hard."

"You probably couldn't handle two sips of the stuff I drank," I retorted, bragging about my alcohol tolerance.

"Only a complete moron drinks a whole mug of 'Blood of The Black Dragon'," he said. "I'm surprised you're not dead."

"Oh, believe me," I spat, narrowing my eyes, "I'm really difficult to kill."

"We'll just see," Mac replied and then ran up to me, fist raised and ready to swing.

I stepped aside, making him miss his punch, lose his balance, and plow right into Brooter. I nearly lost my own balance due to the alcohol in my system, but I quickly found my footing again, turned around, and looked at Mac, who was being helped up by Brooter.

"You're not worth my time," I growled and walked back to my seat. "I'll get back to my drinking if you don't mind."

"Oh, but we do mind," Mac insisted, "In fact, Pussycat, you got me more determined than ever."

I turned around for a moment and looked back at Mac and Brooter.

"If you really want to die, you should just say so," I said, "It would put you out of both our miseries."

"You know what, you're right," Mac said with a sudden change of tone, "You just go ahead and go back to your drinks."

I turned back to my seat, and sat back down. I asked the bartender for another mug, and he quickly gave me one. I lifted the open bottle of 'Blood of The Black Dragon' and poured myself a mug. I looked back behind me and saw the three of them walking away, towards the seats they were originally in. I turned back and started drinking again.

This time, instead of just having the usual tingle coming back, my vision was starting to blur. Normally it would go into double vision before blurring. That's when I knew something was wrong.

"HA! She's so stupid!" I heard Mac whispering to his friends. "She may be able to outfight us, but we got ninja stealth on our side. Nice job, Teebo."

"Thanks, Mac," Teebo whispered back, "It was almost too easy."

"Now it doesn't matter what her alcohol tolerance is. In a few moments, the pussycat will be ours."

"They drugged the bottle," I thought as my vision continued to get worse.

The fact that I already had a good amount of alcohol in my system wasn't helping. I could tell it was a strong drug from the way it came up so quickly. After a moment, my head started hurting. I lifted my hand and placed it on my head to try and ease it. I got up off my stool and stumbled away from the counter.

"They think they can defeat me this easily," I thought as I kept walking across the bar towards the door.

After only a few steps, the door disappeared from my sight, as well as everything else. The noises around me in the bar quickly became nothing more than echoed muffles. I felt myself fall down to my knees, unable to move anymore. Through all this my mind stayed perfectly aware of what was going on. Though my body was weakening, I remained perfectly conscious.

"What the hell kind of drug is this!" I asked in thought.

Not too long later, I felt my body being lifted off the floor by a pair of large arms, which I could only assume was Brooter. He slung me over his shoulder and started walking, carrying me on his shoulder.

I couldn't see anything, and my hearing was lowered a great deal, so I could only go by what I could feel on my skin.

I could feel a swaying left to right and right to left with every step my carrier took. After a few steps, I felt the air change. There was a cool breeze, which led me to assume we were outside. It was then that I realized that my sense of smell was impaired as well, because if I was outside, I would've been able to smell the dirt outside, and I would've noticed the smell of alcohol going away.

The repetitive swaying went on for what seemed like forever. I could hear muffling around me. Then the muffling started to become clearer, until I was able to hear what my captors were saying.

"This was so easy," I heard Mac bragging.

"What're we gonna do with her, Mac?" Teebo asked.

"Something fun," he answered. "The first thing we'll do is take her to the dojo. Then we'll have some playtime."

"The dojo? Why there?" Teebo asked.

"Because there's a secret basement under it." Mac answered, "We can go in there and do what we want with her without being disturbed."

"Say, just how long is she gonna stay like this?" I heard Brooter ask, his voice coming from right next to me, confirming that he was the one carrying me.

"All day," Mac answered, "The drug impairs all the senses except for touch. She can feel everything that's going on, but that's about it. She probably won't start recovering from it for another seven hours, then she'll start getting her hearing back. Then the last thing she'll recover is her ability to move."

"So in other words, we'll know when she's fully recovered when she kicks our asses," Teebo pointed out.

"Yes, but until then, we'll have hours to have fun with her."

"But what if she recovers from it faster than that?" Brooter asked.

"Not possible. She had a whole mug of 'Blood of The Black Dragon', and then some. Alcohol only makes the affects last longer. Believe me, she won't be recovering anytime soon."

"Just keep thinking that, Genius," I thought.

After that, Brooter suddenly stopped walking. I heard a very loud gong ringing, followed by an opening door. Brooter started walking again. After a few steps, I felt our direction change. Now we were moving downward, as if he was stepping down stair steps.

"Alright, Brooter," Mac said, "Put 'er right there."

I then felt Brooter lift me off his shoulder and place me down ontop of something soft and cushion-like, setting me down so I was lying on my back.

Right then, my head started hurting, slowly growing from a slight twinge to a massive throbbing.

"Nggeh…" I moaned.

"Uh, Mac?" Brooter said.

"Relax, will ya?" Mac assured him, "The affects of the drug prevent her from moving. If she can't move her mouth, she can't speak. All she can do is moan and groan at us."

"My head…" I thought as the pain continued to get worse.

I wondered if it was because of the drug or the drink. Either way, my thoughts were slipping. I knew then that I was losing consciousness.

"No…" I thought, "Not now… Not yet… Not like this…"

"First order of business," Mac said in a deep tone, "That cloak."

After that, I thought I could hear laughter echoing in the background, but I couldn't tell over the pain throbbing in my head as I slipped out of consciousness.

Hikorai

I awoke to a throbbing headache. After a moment, I noticed that I could not see or move.

"What is this?" I wondered in thought.

I could hear three male humans laughing around me. Their laughter was malicious in nature, leading me to assume they were the ones behind all of this.

I could feel hands touching me. I felt one set of hands removing Moira's cloak. I then felt another set of hands moving all around my chest area, particularly the breasts. Then I felt these hands removing the buttons that held the blouse shut.

Right then, my vision began to clear. I could see three human males in the room with me. One was sitting ontop of me, a greasy-looking human with a wide grin on his face. One was small and thin, and the third large and muscular. All of them were pawing at me in various places. The one sitting on me seemed especially determined to remove the rest of the clothing I was wearing.

"Not so tough now, are ya, Pussycat?" said the human that was sitting on me.

"This is inexcusable," I thought. "How can anyone do something like this with no shame or guilt?"

My anger rose with every passing second. The human ontop of me managed to open the blouse, exposing my chest. When I was alive, I never wore clothing, being a beast-like feline esper. However, despite our genetic union, this was a human body. I knew very well that in human customs, exposing certain body parts was indecent, in some cases vulgar, especially when forced into exposure by another human. I growled as I tried to move.

"Dude! Mac, she's growling!" The small human said, I assumed to the one sitting on me, and promptly backed away. The large human didn't hesitate to follow the small one's example.

"No way, Teebo, that's not possible," the human ontop of me replied, "That would mean the drug's wearing off."

"I dunno, man," The large one said, "She ain't exactly human."

"I know that, Brooter," The one called Mac replied, and then looked down at me with a wide crooked grin on his face, "You two can back off if yer chicken."

"Yer funeral, Dude." The small one, Teebo, said as he turned around and ran away from us and up a set of stairs on the other side of the room.

"Yeah, just don't come crying to us if she tears you to shreds," Brooter, the large one said as he quickly followed Teebo.

"Fine," Mac said after they had gone, "Wusses. At least this way, I have you all to myself, eh Pussy? Better get to the good part before the drug wears off completely."

By then I was able to muster enough energy to swing my hands up and shove the human off of me, sending him flying backward to land on his back.

Though I was fairly weak, I was finally able to sit up. I then struggled to get up on my feet. Though wobbling, I managed to do so.

"Damnit," Mac grumbled and then turned around to run, "Screw this."

"MAC!" screamed one of the humans from up the stairs.

"Shit!" Mac yelled.

"What the hell are you idiots doing in here?" Yelled a woman's voice from the top of the stairs. "I thought Daddy said you were never to come here again!"

"O-oh, it's y-y-you! H-Hey!" Teebo stuttered.

"W-Wassap?" Brooter continued.

"Step aside!" Mac said as he stepped up the stairs.

I only had enough strength to stand there and watch.

"Whatcha doing in there, Mac? Hmm?" The woman asked in a singsong tone.

"None of your business," Mac replied, singing the same tune.

"Just get outtta here before I'm forced to kick all your asses."

"And then what, steal our materia? You already took all the materia we had. Not to mention all our money."

"How can you accuse me of such a thing! If you can't keep track of your own stuff, that's not my problem. Now leave, before my father finds out you've been sneaking down here again!"

The three then continued up the stairs and out of my sight.

"Bitch," I hear Mac say as he left.

"Yes, you are," The woman spat back.

After a moment, my strength failed me, and I fell to my knees. I looked up and saw the human woman coming down the stairs. She was small and thin, much smaller than I was at the moment. She had very short, black hair and dark brown eyes. She wore a pair of white shorts and a short sleeveless green shirt with a turtleneck collar. She also had some sort of armor covering her left side and left arm.

She walked up to me, and then bent down as if to get a better look at me.

"And what are YOU supposed to be?" She asked, eyebrow raised.

"I…" I said, with much effort, "I…"

"Well, that doesn't matter right now. What're you doing in here?"

"I…"

"Hang on, let me guess," she interrupted and began walking around me, disappearing to my left as she walked behind me. "Mac slipped you that famous drug of his and brought you down here to have some fun."

I then saw her head pop up in front of me to my right.

"Am I right?" She asked.

I was not there when Moira was drugged, but I knew that was what happened. After leaving a place called Mideel, Moira had begun drinking alcoholic beverages on a regular basis. I assumed that her drinking was how she had gotten herself drugged by such disgusting and terrible people. Though I was certain that what this human said was what happened, I did not wish to attempt an answer.

"Still can't talk, huh?" She said and started walking back to the stairs. "Well, don't worry, the drug should wear off soon, and then you can get out of here. Just be sure to shut the door on your way out, ok? Buh-bye."

She then went up the stairs and out of my sight. I stayed there for a moment, remaining on my knees until I was finally strong enough to push myself onto my feet. As I stood up, I began to feel dizzy. I stepped forward, but I found it difficult to keep myself balanced.

"What is this?" I said, immediately noticing a difficulty in enunciation.

"Is this another affect of the drug?" I thought.

I continued stepping forward, failing in my attempt at staying in a straight line. I stopped walking when I collided sidelong into one of the pillars.

"No, this is something else entirely," I thought as I sat down, leaning back on the pillar I collided with. "Perhaps I should rest before attempting to climb the stairs."

I then shut my eyes, hoping to stop the spinning sensation. Though the spinning continued, I was somehow able to ignore it and slip into sleep.

Moira

"This place again," I droned to nobody in particular.

I looked up and saw Hikorai walking up to me on all fours. The look on her face was not a happy one.

"I take it you met the asses that drugged me?" I asked as she came up.

"How could I not? The three of them were ontop of me. At the very least, the one called Mac was."

"But nothing happened. You were able to stop them. That stupid drug of theirs wasn't as strong as they thought it was."

"Actually, I did nothing. I was unable to do anything. The only reason nothing happened was because a young human woman with short dark hair had walked in and made them leave. By then I was barely able to stand. After she left, I attempted to walk out myself, but found myself stumbling from side to side. And I was almost certain that it was not because of the drug."

"Hmm. Interesting. Even after the drug ran its course, I'm still drunk."

"Just how much did you drink?"

"Enough to get careless."

"Apparently," she replied, narrowing her eyes, "You were irresponsible."

"Yeah, I know. I screwed up. But now it's over, so now there's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about? Did it ever occur to you that you could very well have been raped if not for that woman stepping in?"

"The thought had crossed my mind, yes."

"And yet you are not the least bit concerned?"

"Not really. Why worry about something that didn't happen?"

"Why are you behaving like this? This is not like you at all."

"Look, I just want today to be over with, okay? I'm waiting for something important to be delivered to me, and I really want to kill some time."

"This item that is being delivered... Why is it so important?"

"I'll tell you after I get it. For now, don't worry."

"If you are going to continue this reckless behavior of yours, of course I will continue to worry."

"Fine. I'll be more careful. After I sober up, I'll head to my place and sit tight for the rest of the day."

"See to it that you do," she said as she turned around and walked away.

"That I will," I replied.

I opened my eyes and found myself in a large shrine-like room with a set of stairs going upwards and lots of support pillars.

"Still in the dojo basement," I thought. "Wonder if I'm sober yet."

I pushed myself onto my feet and then felt really dizzy. My head was still hurting, but the pain was a different kind, and my stomach felt like it turned into a rock.

"Hmm, hung over," I thought. "This won't make the rest of the day any easier."

I looked down and noticed that my cloak was missing and my blouse was opened.

"Bastards," I thought as I buttoned my blouse back up.

I stepped forward, clutching at my stomach with one arm, and keeping my balance with the other. I staggered over to where my cloak was laid. I then picked it up, put it back on, and slipped the hood over my head.

"Not that this'll do me much good anymore," I said to myself in thought, "Half the town knows what I look like now."

I turned back around, stumbled my way to the stairs, and then climbed them.

The stairs led to a set of double-doors, the right side of which was open. I went through it and shut it as I left. I looked up and found that the door I just shut was identical to the wall of the building, which turned out to actually be a gazebo with a large gong standing in the middle of it.

It was late in the afternoon. The sun was pretty low in the sky, but not yet low enough to set. It made the sky a soft yellow color and the clouds a pinkish orange.

"The day will be over soon," I thought, "I should go back to my place and wait for Sim."

I stumbled away from the gazebo and followed the path away from the dojo and back into Wutai. The dojo was built behind and off to the side of the town. It could've been very easily hidden if the main building wasn't several hundred feet tall. The only thing taller than the dojo's tower was the mountain to the north, which had a winding path, several tunnel, and some gigantic figures carved into it.

I slowly walked back into town, still clutching my belly. I ignored any and all people that passed me.

I continued walking until I reached a very small abandoned building somewhere in the middle of town. The building was really just one room with an attic. Nobody was using it for anything, so this was where I stayed during my time in Wutai. I often wondered why it was kept around since it seemed to serve no purpose.

I pushed the door open and entered the dark building. As I shut it behind me I was greeted with a small animal rubbing against my cloak.

"Meow," it said.

I looked down at the gray tiger-striped cat as it rubbed some more. After a few seconds, a few more cats came up and greeted me.

"Meow meow," they all said.

"Hey guys," I greeted back and continued walking past them.

The small building was filled with cats of all sizes and colors. Being around them made me feel welcome. None of them minded me being there. They minded their business, and I minded mine. A few of them liked to walk up and greet me as I walk in, so I'd pet them and then continue with my business.

I walked over to the back of the room. In the ceiling at the back was a door that went to the attic. The only way in was to climb the crates that were stacked beneath it, which I did. I climbed to the top and peeked through the doorway in the ceiling. I then lifted myself up through this doorway and stood up into a room barely big enough for me to walk through.

At the edge of the room, over to the front side of the building, there was a large empty trunk. It looked like it may have had something important inside of it, but I didn't wonder too much about it. For some time it just sat shut, serving as my table to put my things while I rested. At the moment, all I had on it were some shot glasses and a pitcher that I'd purchased from Sim, testing his reliability in getting me what I wanted.

This room was where I stayed during my time in Wutai. In the attic of a hut filled with cats. Every once in a while, one of the cats would come upstairs to the attic to keep me company. Well, more like to beg for a petting, or wondering if I had any food for them. Either way, the cats made me feel welcome, which was why I chose to stay there.

As I approached the box-table, I reached into my cloak and onto my belt for my pouches of money. After some patting around my waist, I noticed that I wasn't finding them.

"What?" I uttered as I stopped walking and looked down into my cloak to try and see them, but they weren't anywhere to be found. "No!"

I patted around the rest of my waist to see if they had moved, but found nothing.

"What the hell!" I blurted in my panic. "No, I've come too close! I've got to find it! I have to!"

After a second of panic, I heard some loud familiar male laughter coming from outside.

"Them!" I turned, recognizing the three voices that were laughing outside.

I ran over to the front side wall, walked past the trunk, and looked down a hole in the wall to the town below.

"Geez, what a bitch!" The one called Mac said as he walked.

"No kidding," Brooter replied. "Kickin' us out of the dojo like that. Who does that Yuffie kid think she is?"

"Dude, she's Master Godo's DAUGHTER," Teebo answered, "She's got every authority to kick us out."

"I don't care who she is," Mac said, "The next time we see her, she's getting her ass whooped."

Irritated, I ran back to the doorway, jumped down, leapt over all the cats to the front door, opened it, and ran across the path to the three stooges.

"What the--!" Mac managed to say before I grabbed his throat and lifted him up a few inches.

"Mac!" Teebo and Brooter both yelled as they almost jumped in to help Mac. I then turned to them and growled.

"One wrong move," I growled at them, tightening my grip on his throat, "And I will give Mac here a few more air holes."

They immediately backed away a few inches, hands up. I then turned my attention back to Mac.

"Where is it!" I growled.

"Where's what, Pussycat?" Mac replied, desperately gasping for air.

"My money, you idiot! Where's my money!"

"How the... hell should I know?"

"Psh! Yeah," Brooter spoke up, "We were too busy with other stuff on you to think about your money."

"Yeah, we were interested in other things," Teebo continued.

"If anything..." Mac gasped, "Yuffie took your money."

"Yuffie?" I replied, having absolutely no idea who they were talking about. "Who the hell is Yuffie?"

"The girl that kicked us out of the dojo right when we were getting to the good part. Or at least I was. These other two were too chicken and started running off when you started coming to."

"And why should I believe that YOU didn't take it?"

"We got our own ways of makin' money, Puss. We don't need yours. Yuffie's a compulsive thief. She mostly steals materia from those who have it so she can sell it to the people of Wutai."

"Yeah, you don't FIND materia around these parts," Brooter added.

"She makes a killing selling stolen materia," Teebo then added.

"And when she can't… find anyone with materia…" Mac continued, "She goes and finds… easy targets to steal… money from. With her ninja skills… she could easily have… snatched your money… in your drunken daze."

I slowly lowered Mac down, carefully eyeing him, still not sure whether or not to believe him. When he was finally back on the ground, he backed away and coughed a bit as he gasped for air.

"How can I be sure you're telling me the truth?" I asked.

"You can't, really," Mac gasped. "I'm curious, though. Why aren't you ripping me apart for what I did to you earlier today?"

"Because right now I don't give a damn about what you put me through today. I just need my money back by tonight. Where can I find this Yuffie person?"

"Hell, I don't know. Let's go, boys. I need a drink."

I watched as they walked away and out of sight. After that, my only thoughts were centered on how I was going to find Yuffie, and now that I was more calm and able to think clearly, I realized that those three couldn't have taken my money. I knew the smell of the leather my pouches were made of, and I didn't smell it on any of them.

"Well, they mentioned that she's the daughter of the head of the Dojo," I thought. "So my best bet would be to look there first."

I looked up at the sun to see how much time I had left. It was lower down than before, and the sky had already started to change colors.

"I have to find her fast if I'm gonna meet Sim in time."

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!" Screamed a high voice from inside the bar.

"What was that?" I wondered in thought as I stopped after only walking two feet. "Well, whatever it is, it's not my business."

"Getting ready to whoop your ass, you stupid bitch!" I heard Mac answer.

"What the hell for! All I did was kick you out of the dojo for the millionth time this month! Why don't you get it through your stupid head that you aren't allowed in there!"

"Hmm," I thought. "Maybe I should start at the bar instead."

I turned around and went over to the bar. As I walked in the door, I saw a young woman lying down on top of the counter. Teebo was holding down her arms and Brooter was legs. Mac stood in front of the counter holding her by the neck of her shirt and holding a fist in the air, ready to strike. There were also a few people in the bar, but many were on their feet and stepping back away from the scene. As I walked closer to the counter, I could smell my leather pouches.

"Excellent," I thought. "My work was done for me."

As I got even closer, Mac turned and saw me coming.

"Pussycat!" He greeted and gave me a crooked smile, still holding his fist in the air.

"I take it that's Yuffie," I said.

"That's right," Mac replied, "And we're gonna beat the shit out of her for all the shit she's been giving us."

"Hey!" Yuffie spoke up at me, "Dontcha remember me! I'm the one that got these bastards off of you!"

"Yes, and you figured you'd take my money while I was still waking up."

"What!" Yuffie replied, "Not you too! I swear I didn't do it!"

"Listen, this isn't gonna get you anywhere," I said, "And I'm in a hurry. So how about I get these idiots off you and then you give me my money back."

"What!" Mac yelled.

"Pht!" She spat, "I can get these guys off by myself."

She then started struggling, to which Mac replied by beginning his beating on her, Teebo and Brooter still holding her down.

"Ah! Ow! Ow! Fine! Fine! It's a deal! Get 'em off!"

"Ok," I replied as I grabbed Mac from behind and tossed him aside and into a nearby empty table.

As I reached to grab Teebo, Mac grabbed my right shoulder and yanked me around to face him.

"I thought we were on the same boat here, Pussycat!"

"I've had just about enough of you," I said as I punched him in the face and knocked him unconscious.

I turned around to where Teebo and Brooter were still holding Yuffie down, staring at me in horror.

"Leave," I told them.

"Yes, ma'am," They answered as they let Yuffie go and bolted out of the bar as fast as they could. And as they left, I could still smell the leather of my money pouches, confirming that Yuffie was the one who had it.

Almost immediately, I walked up and grabbed Yuffie by the collar of her shirt.

"Hey!" She yelled.

"You will give me my money now," I growled, "Or I will do the same to you as I did to Mac. I know you have it, I can smell the pouches on you, so don't try anything."

"Fine," she grumbled, reaching into her armor sleeve and pulling out a pouch of money.

I took the pouch with my free hand. Suspicious of a trick, I set the bag on the counter so I could open it one-handed and take out one of the coins in the bag to make sure that there was actually money in it.

"Now the rest of it," I said, still holding her.

Giving e a dirty look, she pulled out the rest of my money pouches and handed them to me. I set all of them on the counter and inspected each of them the same way as the first. When I finished confirming their authenticity, I grabbed all the pouches and released Yuffie.

"Thank you," I said as I turned around and walked out of the bar.

"Bitch," I heard her say under her breath.

"So are you," I replied as I walked out the door.

I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was nearly setting.

"Just in time," I thought and headed out of town and towards the canyon where I agreed to meet with Sim.

As I approached, I could see Sim waiting for me with a large paper bag in his hands.

"You got it all?" I asked.

"Of course," he replied. "You got my pay?"

I then held up the pouches of money that I'd just retrieved from Yuffie. Seeing them, he handed me the bag as I handed him the pouches. We each inspected our given items, confirming that I'd paid him and that he got me everything I asked for.

"Nice doing business with you," Sim bowed and went away.

I then turned back to the town and headed to the small shack I stayed in. I went into the attic and placed the bag on my makeshift table.

"Now will you tell me what was so important for you to have gone through so much trouble?" I heard Hikorai in my head.

"I'll do better than that," I answered, "I'll show you."

I sat down in front of the box, opened the bag and pulled out its contents, placing them on my table. They were bottles filled with various liquids. I didn't bother reading the labels. I knew what they were. I grabbed the pitcher that sat at the corner and set it in front of me. I began pouring the liquids into the pitcher, mixing them together.

"Wait..." Hikorai said. "These are poisons."

"Yes, they are," I replied and kept mixing.

"Powerful poisons," she added.

"Yup."

"What do you plan to do with these poisons?"

"What do you think?"

She stayed silent for a moment as I finished my concoction. I then looked over at my shot glasses and grabbed the largest one.

"What are you doing?" Hikorai asked, concern very noticeable in her voice.

I chose not to answer as I poured some of the mixture into my glass.

"No!" She continued, "You would not!"

"I would," I answered, "And I will."

"But you will surely die!"

"Exactly," I replied and lifted my full glass.

"This will not solve anything!"

"What is there to solve?" I asked calmly, "Raven is dead. Jamie is dead. My entire family is dead. Everything I ever lived for is gone, and I have to hide everywhere I go because I'm a freak. There's nothing left for me. Besides, if I die you might get back to resting in peace."

"It is not that simple, Moira! My situation is irrelevant at the moment! Please, think about what you are doing!"

"I've thought about this ever since Jamie died," I said, bringing the glass closer to my lips, "Believe me, I know what I'm doing."

"Moira! NO!"

I chugged the contents of the glass before she even finished. The liquid was spicy as hell, which told me it was a very potent poison. Immediately, I felt my body failing. It only took a few seconds before I collapse to the floor.

"What have you done..." Hikorai whispered as my vision went out.

"Finally," I thought, unable to speak, "It's all over."

After a few more seconds, there was nothing left but darkness.


	16. Ch 14: From This Dark Place

**Chapter XIV **

**From This Dark Place**

(5 Years Later) Year 15 After Midgar

The snow pounded on my face as I climbed the mountain, closely hugging the cold rocky wall. When I got up to yet another ledge I took a moment to warm myself up by running in place and rubbing my arms really fast.

After my failure at attempted suicide in Wutai, I spent the following years trying to figure out why I didn't die. After waking up from that, I took the pitcher containing what was left of the poison and filled a few test tubes with it. I'd kept them with me since then in case I needed to use it as a weapon.

Hikorai stopped talking to me after that, not that I blamed her after all that'd happened. Even as I was climbing the mountain, she still wasn't talking to me. I knew she was still there and perfectly fine, but she just didn't want to talk to me.

My curiosity led me on the road to the Icicle Inn, a small town on the Northern Continent. It was right in the middle of a mountain range, which covered most of the northwestern region of the continent.

"Brrrr!" I shivered. "Even with cloak and fur, this place is freezing my ass off."

I continued warming myself until I noticed a cave behind me. I then walked over and into the mouth. Immediately, I noticed that there was a warm breeze coming from inside.

"Hmm," I said as I enjoyed the warmth, "Maybe this'll be a shortcut through the mountain."

I then walked further into the cave. I noticed that the further in I went, the darker it got, which I didn't mind too much because I could see well enough in the dark. It didn't take long for me to lose sight of the entrance as I kept going further and further. After a few more steps I saw a small light ahead of me.

"Must be a short tunnel if I'm seeing light already," I thought.

As I got closer to the light however, I noticed that it didn't get bigger like it would if it were the end of a tunnel. As I got even closer, it was actually starting to look like the light of a lantern. It was pretty low down, close to the ground. So if anyone were holding it, they would've either been very short or had very long arms, and I was pretty sure the latter was unlikely. I stopped walking and watched the light carefully.

"Hello?" I called to the light, "Is anyone there?"

I got no verbal reply, but the light moved a little closer.

"Hey, do you know if this is the right way to Icicle Inn?" I asked.

Again I got no reply, only the light inching even closer.

"Can you talk?"

It inched closer.

"Are you even HEARING me?"

It inched even closer.

"Hey! Come on! I know there's someone there!"

It finally had inched to where I could see the figure with the light. It was just a few inches away from me. It was a small green creature wearing a brown cloak. It wasn't much taller than a moogle. It had an egg-shaped head with large almond-shaped yellow eyes. It had no nose or mouth that I could see. In its left hand it held the lantern, and its right hand was in the cloak pocket.

"A Tonberry?" I said, recognizing the creature in front of me. "I always heard they were scary monsters, but you just look like a science fiction reject."

I knelt down so I could talk to it face to face.

"Ok, now that you're here, maybe you can answer my questions."

It simply looked up at me as it quickly pulled a knife out of its right pocket and stabbed me in the chest with it. I didn't even have time to respond before I blacked out.

(Several Hours Later)

I woke up with a huge pain in my back. I realized that it was because I was sleeping on a bed made of solid rock. I rubbed my back and looked around a bit. It looked like I was in another part of the cave. There was furniture made mostly out of rock. There were wooden tools laying around on a rock table, as well as some plants and herbs.

I also noticed what looked like my shirt lying on the table. I then looked down at myself and saw that my clothes from the belt up were gone. In their place were some bandages that were tightly wrapped around my chest with a few leaves tucked underneath.

"Where am I?" I wondered out loud.

"Ah, she wakes," said a small and creepy voice from the shadows. Its voice sounded like the furious growl of a small animal.

Then I remembered how I got knocked unconscious. I sniffed a moment and picked up the same scent as when I was last awake.

"The Tonberry!" I turned around and saw the same Tonberry from before. It came walking up still holding its lantern and knife.

"Yes, Tonberry," It replied, "So you do have intelligence."

"What are you implying?"

"Most humans wandering into my cave are either lost or stupid, and you certainly did not look lost."

"I thought this cave could've been a shortcut to Icicle Inn."

"Very true, this is one route," he said as he walked over to the stone table and put his knife and lantern down on top of it. "But nonetheless, anyone who passes through this cave is intruder to my home, and so I must kill them."

"Well, why didn't you kill me?"

"I could not."

"What?"

He picked up his knife and showed it to me. It wasn't anything very fancy. It was quite a short dagger, and it had a very simple design. The blade was very wide, and it was only sharp on one side. It looked like a shortened butcher's knife.

"Tonberry's knife is coated with special magic poison, recipe of which is handed down through many generations of Tonberry. Poison kills victim almost instantly. I stabbed you with poisoned knife, but you did not die."

"Well, if the poison didn't work, then why didn't you just start stabbing for vital organs?"

"Two reasons. First, because poison is vital in strengthening my magic."

"How does it strengthen your magic?"

"We Tonberry see ourselves as Dark Shaman. We speak with dead. We help dead pass on. We help living become dead. Much of our magic depends on death, you see, whether it already dead or shall become dead."

"But wouldn't that have given you more reason to kill me?"

"Tonberry magic does not gain experience with brutal, physical stabbing. Magic in poison transfers experience from death caused by poison."

"So then what's the second reason you didn't kill me?"

"Second reason is fact that you did not die from poison. Art of Tonberry poison existed as long as Tonberry have existed, and in all that time..."

He paused and moved closer to me, narrowing his eyes.

"Poison has never failed to kill victim."

"I guess even magic Tonberry poison can't kill me," I sighed, "I don't understand why, but poisons can't kill me."

"Fact that you survived my poison greatly interests me," he continued, turning around and walking back to the table. "I took liberty of extracting sample of blood from your stab wound before bandaging it. I studied you while you slept."

"You did what?"

"I studied blood sample from your stab wound."

"...You studied me?"

"Yes," it answered, "And I am still in process of studying sample. You have problem with that?"

"I don't exactly appreciate being used as a science project."

"Quite apparent that you have been through much. I do not intend on harming you further," he assured me, "I simply wish to learn. I already have all samples I will need from you. Information from this study may prove helpful to you as well. So I will ask that you remain here until studies are finished."

"What do you mean the information may prove helpful to me?"

"I will explain more when I return," he said as he picked up his lantern, his knife, and a small bag. "I first need to go to other side of cave to collect more herbs to continue my studies. For now, I can only tell you that these studies may answer any questions you have regarding yourself."

"Well, what do I do in the meantime?"

"Remain here, and rest while your wounds heal," he answered and left.

I knew I wasn't going to get any more rest on the stone slab I was sitting on, so I got up and decided to look around and study my surroundings. It all looked pretty much the same; rocks, rocks, and more rocks. Beside the table I noticed there was a small bookshelf, and on it were lots of old books.

"Tonberries can read?" I wondered in thought as I walked over to the bookshelf.

I knelt down in front of the shelf and picked up one of the books. I turned it around and looked at the cover.

"'Loveless'," I read out loud with a chuckle. "He actually has 'Loveless'."

I put that book back and looked at the titles on the spines of the other books.

"'The Origins of Materia'," I read out loud, "'Moogles: Fact or Fiction?' Heh, I already know the answer to that one. 'Loveless'... 'Loveless'? He has 'Loveless'?"

"Yes, and I read it several times," said a creepy voice behind me.

I turned around and saw the Tonberry.

"That was quick," I said.

"Is small cave," he answered, "does not take long to collect ingredients I need. Please sit back down on bed."

"On the bed?"

"Yes, I need to examine your wound, make sure it heals properly."

I felt like I was at a doctor's office. I went over to the stone slab I slept on before and sat down on it.

The Tonberry walked over to the table and put his bag of herbs down on top of it. He opened the bag and sorted his herbs around the table. Then he set his bag aside and started working with his ingredients. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but I knew it had something to do with me. After a minute or so, he stepped back from the table and over to me. He carefully removed the bandages and looked at where my stab wound was. His eyes widened for a moment, and then he blinked a couple of times and looked up at me.

"Interesting," he said.

"What?" I asked, looking down at my scabbed-up stab wound.

"Wound is healed further than normal. Stab was deep, but wound is now almost completely closed. And all infected tissue was removed from body naturally. Your immune system is incredible. From what I have seen in studies so far, your body has ability to develop immunity to any poison so quickly, it is almost immediate."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If I stab you again with my knife right now, all you would get is stab wound. Poison would not affect you at all because you body has developed immunity to it."

"So you're saying that any poison I've taken beforehand won't affect me at all?"

"Precisely."

"What about alcohol? I drink a lot, and it affects me the same way every time."

"Perhaps your body does not count alcohol as a poison," he said, "Your immunity is magical in nature. Could have originated from other spirit that dwells inside you."

"Other spirit?" I replied, startled that he knew there was another spirit.

"Don't play stupid. I work with dead, remember? There is esper spirit inside you that should be among dead, but somehow is living inside you."

"How'd you know she was an esper?"

"I just told you I work with dead," he answered, slightly annoyed, "I think I would know esper spirit when I sense one."

"Oh," I replied, "Yeah. A crazy scientist took her magecite and fused her into my DNA."

"That explains strange union of human and esper, as well as why you are not comfortable with scientific study done on you."

"So you're saying that having her spirit might be the reason why I can't die from poisoning?"

"Is a possibility. Espers are powerful magical beings, resistant to many things. Esper inside you may have been resistant to poison, resistance which may have been transferred to you."

"Hmm."

"Curious. Do you have esper's magecite?"

"Uh, yes. Why? Can you put her back into it?"

"Well... Yes and no."

"What do you mean 'yes and no'?"

"Is a tricky process. Esper and all her powers are now part of your genetic code. Removing all of it now would be both disastrous and meaningless. If she is to return to magecite, she must be there completely, soul and magic power, if she is to truly rest in peace."

"Then what do you need the empty magecite for if you can't put her back in it?

"Well, with your permission, I could make magecite piece an extension of your body and transfer esper's soul into it. Esper would still be with her powers while it remains in your genetic code."

"Are you saying that if you go through with this, I'll end up as living, walking, breathing magecite?"

"Technically, yes."

"That's the craziest thing I've ever heard. I don't even know if that'll work."

"Would you rather have miserable esper in back of your mind for rest of your life?"

I thought about that for a moment. I then remembered that I did promise Hikorai that I'd help her get back to her resting place.

"No, I guess not."

"Good, we can begin when you and her are again in good terms."

"What?"

"Esper is angry with you for something. She feels insulted, betrayed."

"Betrayed?"

"What did you do to make her so angry?"

"I tried to poison myself five years ago. She hasn't spoken to me since."

"Espers, for most part, are honorable in nature. Suicide is gravest dishonor anyone could make unto oneself."

"Well, I guess that explains why she's pissed."

"Did you apologize?"

"No, because I didn't do anything wrong. I don't think she should still be so angry. What would she have lost if I died?"

"Her soul," he answered.

I blinked for a few moments.

"Esper's soul requires magecite in order to truly rest," he continued, "Without such, esper's soul ceases to exist."

It was at that moment that I finally realized what I did. By trying to kill myself, I'd broken my promise and nearly destroyed her soul.

"Why didn't she tell me?"

"Thoughts were probably in your protection at moment."

"Well, crap! It's been five years! How can I apologize to her now?"

"That is something for you to figure out yourself," he answered and turned around to walk away. "In meantime I can do nothing."

"Where are you going now?"

"To meditate," he said as he turned the corner and disappeared again.

I stared in that direction for a while longer before turning my gaze away.

"What do I do now?" I asked myself in thought.

I looked to another end of the cave dwelling and saw that it kept going. I got up off the stone bed and started walking to this new tunnel. There was a cold breeze coming through it, which told me it led outside. Even knowing how cold the outside was, I kept going. The tunnel went on for a long while before finally opening up, letting me out into the cold.

I wasn't sure exactly why I decided to go outside. It was just an urge I got. It was like something was calling to me, telling me to go outside and walk a bit. So I walked, and walked, and walked. I walked for what seemed like hours. I couldn't tell how long it was, but it felt like an eternity with the icy cold wind biting at all my extremities. The only thing I could feel from my head was my ears flapping around in the wind. From the waist up I wasn't wearing anything but bandages, so the cold was really stinging my chest area. The wind was blowing so hard that it was really hard to see where I was going. I stopped walking when I found a giant wall of ice in front of me.

I stared at this wall for a while and then approached it, reaching to it with my right hand. When I got close enough to touch it, I wiped away the layer of snow and frost that had collected on it, showing me my reflection.

"I didn't know," I said softly, barely audible in the wind. "I didn't know."

I stared at my own reflection for a long moment, the image that was mine, and yet at the same time wasn't. I didn't just see myself. I also saw Hikorai, and the feeling I got from this image was as cold as the wind I was enduring. I then realized just how stupid I was, how weak I was, how I had less than no consideration for Hikorai or the promise I made to her.

"I was supposed to help you return to rest, but instead I almost destroyed your soul. And on top of all that I had the gall to say that I didn't do anything wrong."

I clenched my right hand into a fist and then punched the wall where my reflection was. After that, I punched it again, and again, and again.

"How could you be so stupid!" I yelled at myself as I continued punching, "Not knowing isn't an excuse! You stupid, stupid, Stupid, Stupid, STUPID!"

When I exhausted myself from punching, there were several deep dents in the ice in front of me, my reflection no longer visible.

I fell to my knees, my right hand back on the ice wall.

"I'm sorry..." I sobbed, my tears freezing as they ran down my face. "I'm sorry! I didn't know! I didn't know..."

I sat there for a while, staring down at the ground as more tears froze on my furry face.

"I don't blame you for not forgiving me, even now. Now that I know. I was so blind from everything that's happened that I didn't stop to really think what would've happened to you if I'd succeeded. I broke my promise in the worst way possible. I'm such an idiot. The only thing I've ever been good for is hurting people."

"That is not true," said a familiar voice in my head.

I jolted my head up, startled that she finally started speaking to me after five years. All of a sudden, the noise around me didn't seem so loud.

"How can you say that after what I almost did to you?"

"You are human," Hikorai answered. "In spite of our genetic union, you are still very much human, which allows for your emotions to get the better of you."

"You haven't spoken to me in so long. With all that's happened, how could you go trying to say that I'm not as terrible as I seem?"

"I was furious with you for what you did. You had forgotten about me. No, you did worse than forget. You ignored that I was even here, and you did not think about what would have happened to my soul if your suicide had succeeded. And after that, you went on as if nothing had happened."

"Which is exactly why it doesn't make sense that you're talking this way to me now."

"You have learned your mistake. It took you five years to achieve it, but you did. You are not a bad person, Moira. You have proven that numerous times. However, your attempted suicide gave me doubt about that, because my people were not as prone to such emotional and mental disorder. Though it has happened among my people, it was quite rare. Although in the case of your people, this sort of disorder seems much more frequent."

"It's not just a matter of me being emotionally disturbed. I was ignorant. I didn't care as long as my life ended, but now I see that was the worst thing I could've possibly done."

"And that is why I am able to forgive you."

I sat there thinking about that for a moment, and then all of a sudden it felt like someone had lifted a heavy weight off my chest. In the numbing cold, I could barely feel a smile forming on my face as more tears flowed down my face and froze on the way.

"Thank you," I sobbed. "I don't feel like I deserve it."

"I feel that you do. I know in my heart that your apology was genuine. And knowing your character as well as I do, I know that I can forgive you."

I stayed there crying for what seemed like forever, happy that I'd finally made amends.

"Are we ready to proceed?" asked a creepy voice from behind me.

I looked back and saw the Tonberry. I tried to wipe my tears away, but ended up rubbing a layer of ice.

"Almost," I answered. "Just give me a minute."

I then lifted myself back onto my feet. I looked down at the Tonberry, who just stared up at me.

"I take it your chat went well?"

"Yeah," I said, "It did."

"Well then, lets get back into warmth of cave."

I then followed him back into the cave and then back to his home in the cave.

"When you are ready," the Tonberry said as I sat down on the stone bed. "I will begin procedure."

"Okay," I nodded as I laid myself down.

"I will need magecite piece."

I pulled the magecite out of my pocket, and looked at it one more time before handing it over. This simple green stone with its small red design in the center, still dark from being empty of magic and esper for so long. I handed it to the tonberry.

"You may speak with esper one last time before I proceed."

"Thank you," I replied as I shut my eyes and fell back into the darkness of my mind.

"I suppose this is the last time I'll be in this darkness," I thought to myself.

"It is good to see you again," Hikorai greeted from behind me.

"Same here," I replied, looking up at her. I knew that after this I was never going to see her again, and that thought wasn't comforting.

"What is wrong?" Hikorai asked.

"I..." I hesitated, "I found a way for you to finally rest in peace."

"You have?" she replied with a puzzled look on her face, "How?"

"I met someone who works with the dead, and he said he could put you back in your magecite."

"And my powers? Everything that makes me what I am is part of your genetic code. How does this person plan to achieve this?"

"By making the magecite part of my body. That way, he can put your soul into the magecite. You'd still be connected to your powers without screwing with my DNA."

"By doing… what? Are you certain you want to do this?"

"I've never been more certain of anything in my life. I need to make it up to you for what I did, and this is the only way I can do it."

"So this... This is our final meeting like this."

"Yes," I lowered my head as tears welled up in my eyes again, except this time they were flowing and not freezing.

"Is there anything about me you wish to know? Anything at all? Even after all our years together, you know very little about me."

"Well, there's really only one thing that I'm curious about."

"What is it?"

"I'm not sure if you'd be comfortable answering this, but… How did you die?"

She fell silent for a moment, tilting her head down, as if thinking about how she was going to word it.

"It was several thousand years ago. The world was much different then. Back then magic flowed freely throughout the world. Human and esper alike were able to use magic at will without the aid of an item. Though the humans chose to use their magic to power their technology. The primary sources of all this magic were the three Goddesses that watched over the world. Eventually the humans grew hungry for more power, leading them to wage war on the Goddesses, demanding that they give the humans more magical power. To defend themselves, the Goddesses sought out humans who still supported them and transformed them into powerful magical beings to be their soldiers in this war, which was dubbed The War of the Magi."

"Is that how Espers came to be?"

"Yes. I was once a human. Hundreds of such individuals were chosen. Unfortunately, our memory of that existence was erased. I know nothing of what my life was like before I became an Esper. I only know that I was among many who were chosen to serve under the Goddesses until the war was over. By the end, both sides have lost many. The war was beginning to take its toll on the planet. Seeing such terrible destruction, the Goddesses attempted to stop the war by turning themselves into stone statues, as to limit the flow of magic. The humans then lost their ability to use magic, and since much of their machinery was powered with magic, much of their technology became useless.

'Pulling together what technology they had left, they then attacked us upon discovering that we Espers still had our magical powers. The Goddesses then created a world separate from this one, opened the door, and told the Espers to go through it to this other world. In doing so, they released us from our obligation to serve them, leaving us to begin our lives anew. We were still under attack when most of our people walked through the door. A small handful of us remained behind to ensure that the rest made it safely to the other side. I was one of those few.

'We fought until everyone was safely across. Although the humans remaining machinery was not magical, it was damaging enough to gravely injure the few of us that fought. When we were finally able, we crossed the door. It slammed behind us, separating us from the humans. Though we fulfilled the Goddesses wishes to escape to the world they created for us, we were injured beyond repair. Though the others tried their best to help, they were not fast enough to save everyone. I was one of the few they could not save. I remember watching the others that died. Upon dying, they transformed into what is now known as magecite, and somehow I knew that the same fate was about to befall me. The world went dark, and soon after I was bathed in a heavenly blue light, filled with the sensation of being carried away in a river, and then having that river surround me and lull me to sleep. And thus I died, one of the final casualties of the War of the Magi."

"Wow," I said, "No wonder the Espers were such an honorable race. They were created from honorable people."

"Yes."

"Do you think maybe this 'blue light river' is actually the Lifestream?"

"Perhaps. I believe the lab records briefly mentioned that my magecite was found in one of the reactors that magically powered the city."

"The mako reactors were connected directly to the Lifestream. That's where mako comes from. Maybe your magecite somehow ended up in the Lifestream and was carried around in it for all these centuries until you wound up in a mako reactor."

"That could very well be the case."

"And then the next thing you see is the inside of the lab tank that Hojo kept me in."

"And the rest--" she started.

"--Is history." I finished.

We then stared at each other for what seemed like forever. I didn't want to say goodbye yet. After all, she had only just started speaking to me after five years.

"I do not know what to say."

"What does one say when one of their best friends is about to leave forever?"

"Say that we will meet again. If you should ever transform again, it would be similar to if I were summoned from my magecite piece. Perhaps we can meet again in that way."

"Yeah," I sobbed, "We will meet again."

"In this case, I know that I can finally rest in peace."

As if on cue, a bright golden white light shined down on Hikorai. Her fur started to sparkle in the golden light. She looked up, basking in the light and slowly began to fade.

"It is warm," she commented, "It feels welcoming. It beckons me to come home."

"Wait!"

"It was fifteen years ago when we were brought together. Fifteen short years ago. It is strange. For all this time, we thought that arriving at this moment would be impossible, but now here we are."

"I'm so glad we were able to make this happen. That I was able to fulfill my promise after all, especially after screwing up so bad."

"This is a priceless gift, Moira. And for that I am eternally grateful."

At this point she had faded most of the way.

"Till we meet again then?" I asked.

She looked down and smiled at me.

"Till we meet again," she replied and then faded away completely.

"Good-bye," I sobbed, knowing that she wasn't going to hear me.

A second later, the darkness around me suddenly became a bright white. I quickly covered my eyes as to not get blinded, but the white only became brighter and brighter. And just when it almost got to bright to bear, I jolted up on the stone slab I was lying on. I was again in the Tonberry's cave.

"It is done," he said, "Esper is now at rest."

I then noticed that I felt something different. I felt around my chest and found something smooth embedded into the center of my lower chest, wedged in the arch of my ribs. I looked down at it, and noticed that it was glowing bright green.

"Esper's magic flows through magecite as it also flows through your body," the Tonberry explained, "Glow of magecite means that procedure was successful. Esper's soul is inside and safe."

"And my conscience is clean," I added. "This is one decision I'm never going to regret."

"Since esper is now at rest, this leaves you in control of esper's powers."

"Her powers?"

"Yes. I sense that she was esper of fire, ice, and lightning. These are magics you can use at any time. Just as some humans use items called materia to use magic, with exception that you do not need such items."

"Fire, ice and lightning," I repeated. "I don't know if I'll ever use it. I never had any use for magic, even when I had materia. But that's a good thing to know at any rate."

"Well, now that all is done, you can leave my cave."

"Sure, okay," I chuckled as I got up off the bed.

"You will need this back," he added as he tossed me my shirt.

"Thanks," I said and put it on.

I then followed him to the exit of the cave leading in the direction of Icicle Inn.

"Before I go, I have a question," I said.

"Ask."

"If you would've just put Hikorai and all her power into her magecite, it would've killed me, right?"

"Correct."

"Then why didn't you go with that? You would've used your magic to help the dead move on and to make the living into the dead, killing two birds with one stone, so to speak."

"Most other tonberry would jump at opportunity to kill you. I, on other hand, felt sorry for you, and felt obligated to help. I only spare intruders that are lost or severely wounded."

"But I was neither of those when we met and you tried to kill me."

"Yes, but since you did not die, you became severely wounded."

"Your logic is weird."

"Is true. That is how I live."

"So are you going to try to kill me if I ever come back?"

"Depends entirely on how soon you return. I will dedicate life to developing new poison that can bypass esper's immunities."

"Well, I'll be sure to never come back here again, then."

"Wise choice on your part. However, would disappoint me if I never have chance to test new poison. Imagine how much my power would grow if I succeeded killing you, with so much esper magic inside you."

"It would probably grow a lot," I said with a chuckle, "Well, I think I should start going before the winds pick up again."

"Have safe journey."

"I will, and thanks for everything. I mean it. It really means a lot to me, and to Hikorai."

"Only did what I thought was right. Farewell."

"Good-bye."

I then turned away and marched off into the cold windy outdoors. This time the cold didn't seem as terrible. As I walked on, I looked down at my chest and touched the spot where I knew the magecite was. It felt like a hard lump in the middle of my lower chest.

"You and I really are one and the same now," I thought. "I promise I won't let anything happen to us from now on. And this time, it's a promise I'm going to keep."


	17. Ch 15: The Final Piece

Chapter XV 

**The Final Piece**

(5 Years Later) Year 20 After Midgar

It was nighttime, quite late at night in fact, as I sat at the bar in a town called Costa Del Sol, guzzling my thirty-fifth pint of beer. The bar was completely empty except for me and the bartender.

He was young, though not much younger than what I should've been at the time. He looked to be in his early thirties. He was a thin guy with blonde hair and brown eyes, and he reeked of utter gleefulness. Very unusual for a bartender, because bartenders usually have a very angry scent on them. This told me that this bartender was an unusually happy person, and he seemed to be very happy with his life. I envied him for that. Happiness was just something I'd given up on ever finding again.

My alcohol tolerance seemed to be exponentially greater than what it was twenty years earlier. It felt like the alcohol wasn't even affecting me at all, which disappointed me, because really I wanted to lose myself in these drinks that night. This was also considering that the beer was unusually strong as far as beers go. I could smell the extra alcohol the bartender produces when brewing his beers. I assumed it must've been a specialty of the Costa Del Sol bar.

It was five years since the day Hikorai and I were freed of the awful curse that Hojo put on us. Five years since my mind finally remembered what it was like to have a body to itself without the constant worry that the other mind would suddenly spring up at any given moment. Five years since Hikorai was finally put back into her Magecite to rest in peace. I'd spent these five long years wandering the world alone, and there I was at the bar, drinking my life away, trying to forget everything that's happened since that day twenty years ago, when Hikorai and I first met.

I hadn't aged at all in those twenty years. I was forty-two years old and still looked twenty-two. At some point I started to think I would never die.

I knew that alcohol wasn't ever going to do me in because I simply could not be poisoned, though it might impair me for a time. I went back to avid drinking just so I could have something regular in my life. It wasn't going to kill me, so I figured why not?

"So, what's your story?" The bartender asked.

"Huh?" I looked up at him and it was only then that I noticed the affect of the alcohol. My vision became much more light-sensitive. I had to look back down and cover my eyes with my hand and the top of my hood. I also couldn't see very well through a fog that suddenly enveloped my vision, and it looked like the room was spinning. Also, my "huh" sounded shaky. Then I realized that I couldn't "feel" the affects of the alcohol until I realized that they happened. It was like my body wasn't really letting me know that something was happening inside.

"Well, you've packed down more than a couple dozen drinks and haven't said a word. You must be tryin' to forget somethin'."

"You don't know the half of it," I stumbled through my words.

"Must be an interesting story," he replied.

"Heh! Interesting, ya. You got a…(hic) knack for understatement."

"Name's Ghost Gordon. What's your's?"

I stayed silent. I didn't feel like giving my name to some bartender.

"Don't wanna give away yer identity, eh? That's alright. I understand. To each his own I guess. Do you frequent many bars?"

"Ya, I travel a lot and go to bars and try to get as drunk as a possibly can. Alcohol can't kill me, so what the point in holdin' back? I use to just go to a bar to rant. But that was back when I lived in Midgar."

"Oh, ya lived in Midgar, huh? What part?"

"Sector Tree Plate," I answered.

"Sector Three? Then I guess you must've known ol' Joe."

"Ya, he was the one who listened to my rants when I went there."

"Joe was a really close friend of mine. He was practically a second father to me. We both would keep talkin' about opening a bar together, but then I got married to a beautiful girl named Lucca. We came here to Costa Del Sol for our honeymoon, and we liked it so much, we decided to come live here. I got a job at this bar and worked my way to the top. So now I own the place. And now Lucca's pregnant with twin boys. I'm thinking of callin' 'em Nathaniel and Superfly, but Lucca doesn't seem to agree."

"Wonder why?" I groaned. Then I thought to myself, "I wouldn't agree to such stupid-sounding names either."

"Well, all in all I'd have to say that my life's been a really great one," he concluded.

"Heh, a happy story. Don't run into those very often anymore."

"Ya, life is a great thing. At least to me, it is. Hey, look. It seems a friend of yours is comin' to join us," he pointed behind me. I turned around and saw someone also wearing a black hooded cloak like mine. We would've looked identical, except this person limped through the bar leaning on a walking stick.

"I don't know anyone other than me (hic) who'd wear a cloak like that."

The mystery person came up and sat down at the counter to the right of me, placing his walking stick down, leaning it on the counter to his right.

"And what can I do for you?" Asked Ghost.

"Just water, please," He answered.

"Really? Just water?" Ghost responded, "You come to my bar and just ask for water? My beer's really good."

"I'd have to agree, (hic)" I added lifting my mug and then chugging a good portion before putting the mug back down.

"Not quite sure what alcohol will do to me," Cloak Guy answered, "I've had some strange stuff happened to me, and I'm not sure how much longer I'll live. To tell the truth, I'm surprised I even made it this long."

He said that with such a calm tone, as if dying wasn't that big a deal. His voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. He sounded like he was in his late sixties. His voice almost made him sound like he was groaning, like he had to put a good amount of effort just to speak, but at the same time it was a very tender tone. And his scent was really familiar too. I knew that I had smelled this scent before, but I was too drunk to try and figure anything out about it.

"Well, you know, I could swear you two look like you're together," Ghost insisted.

We turned our heads at each other, I had my hood down far enough so he wouldn't be able to see my face. And I couldn't see his face under the hood, so I didn't really get a chance to really get a good look at him.

"Like I said," I said looking back at the bartender, "Don't know anybody else but me who wears a cloak. (hic)"

"Sounds like you've packed a few down already," Said the cloak person as he took a sip of his water, "What's your story?"

"Just what I was wondering," replied Ghost, "What is it you're trying to forget?"

"I don't think you wanna know."

"It can't be as bad as what I've been through," said Cloak Guy.

"You're right, (hic) I've probably been through worse."

"Well, you probably didn't have to put up with voices in your head."

"Ah, you're one of those 'Jenova' cases, eh?" I replied, "You don't see any of those anymore."

"Yeah, I know," he said as he twirled the glass of water in front of him, "While everyone else was worried about Meteor, I had to try and fight my way through my own mind, and I failed miserably. I almost succeeded at one point, but then I just couldn't handle it anymore. The voices overpowered me, and I sat in the back of my own mind praying that the noise would stop. The only reason I'm here now is the fact that Jenova died before I ever had a chance to go get killed at Jenova's reunion, and all the Jenova cells are dead now. It's unfortunate that they've left such an awful mark, but I'm grateful that I was able to live so long, in spite of all that."

"Heh, well. I had to go through several weeks in a giant fish tank while a psycho scientist did an experiment on me, (hic) using a Magecite piece."

"Magecite? I've read about that before in a really old book," Ghost said. "It's said to be the ancient form of Summon materia. The stuff was green with a little red design in the center."

"That's the one, Magecite, that's what he used," I replied, "And then after all that I wake up in my hometown with a headache, and lookin' like a freak of nature."

"Ya don't say?" Said Ghost. "Why dontcha lower yer hood and let us see what you look like?"

"Rather not, thanks," I answered, "And thinkin' about everything that's happened since then, I'm afraid I'll have to live the rest of my forsaken life with with this pang of guilt."

"Guilt?" Cloak Guy spoke up, "What do you have to be guilty for?"

Remembering giving Raven to Hojo, I felt a tear go down my furry face.

"My…(hic), My lover," I started, sobbing as I went, "He was a Jenova case, too."

"But that's not your fault," Cloak Guy said, "The blame should go to the evil bastard who injected the damn cells."

"But he needed my help, and I put 'im in the hands of the very guy who did it to 'im. (hic)" I was blubbering by this time, "I thought he would cure 'im, but damn, I was such an IDIOT!" I slammed the mug on the counter as I said it, splashing some beer onto the counter.

"Why," I continued, blubbering even more, "I still can't figure out why I didn't listen to anyone. Everyone told me how evil he was, (hic) but I was bein' too selfish. I just wanted to get away from the damn meeting room."

I lifted my mug and took a long drink. When I was done, I slammed the empty mug on the counter.

"More prease."

"But you can barely speak as it is," Said Ghost.

"Didn't think it was yer job ta argue," I replied.

"It's not, I'm just concerned."

"(hic) I told ya that alcohol cant kill me."

"If you say so," he sighed pouring me another beer. He handed me the full mug and took away the empty one. I sort of stared at the mug for a moment.

"I wonder what woulda happened if I'd have just listened to all the warnings and kept away from Hojo."

"You'd probably end up one of the poor people that died when Meteor destroyed Midgar," answered Cloak Guy

"I wonder if that would've bin the better fate for me."

"What makes you say that?" Ghost asked.

"After I woke up at home,(hic) I found my love layin' on my friend's couch. And then when my back was turned, he jest disappeared. I didn't even get a chance to properly apologize. I don't think he'd forgive me anyway. Hell, I wont forgive me.(hic) I'm sittin' here drunk off my ass tellin' my story to shtrangers. And to make evr'ything worse, my hometown was leveled to the ground jus' before I left. Evr'yone and evr'ything I ever loved is gone now. My best weapon's lost somewhere in Midgar's ruins. My fam'ly and friends back home are all dead.(hic) And my lover…I only knew 'im for a few days, and the relationship went kinda fast, but I felt it so strongly…"

I moved my mug aside so I could slam my head onto the counter. It stayed on the counter for a while, and I just continued sobbing and hiccupping in my drunken state. I was bawling. I couldn't tell what the counter was more wet from, my tears or the beer I'd spilt a few minutes earlier.

"I'm better off dead!" I sobbed, "I can't stand livin' like this! Everything that's happened was 'cuz I was such an idiot!"

"Quit beating yourself up," The Cloak Guy spoke up. "Listen to me. None of that was your fault. It's not your fault Hojo was an evil bastard and lured you into that mess. It's not your fault Kalm was destroyed. And what happened to Raven was most certainly not your fault."

"Wha...?" I turned and looked at the cloak guy in surprise, "How'd you know all that?"

"It's amazing, you still sound as young and beautiful as the day I met you, except you only had five beers then. And you were a much angrier drunk. A lot can change in twenty years."

He then lowered his hood, revealing his head. I had to look closely for a moment because of my messed up vision. But then I realized that it was a much older version of a face that had haunted my dreams for twenty years.

"Raven!" I gasped, not quite believing what I was seeing. "You're alive!"

"That's right, Moira. Except I go by my real name nowadays. You can still call me Raven if you want," He then pointed his left palm at me. "Panacea."

His hand glowed green, and then the shroud in my vision went away. Then I could see him more clearly. His hair was still long enough to be braided, though I couldn't see just how long it was because it was tucked into his cloak. There were only a few streaks of brown in his hair that had mostly turned gray and white. His bangs were more drooped than I remembered, but it was still the same style of feathery spiky. His face was pale and quite wrinkled from quick age. He'd also grown out a goatee.

"Huh?" I said, and this time it sounded normal. "What happened?"

"I don't like you drinking like that. It's not healthy, even for someone who apparently can't die from alcohol poisoning. If you've been drinking like that all this time because of this guilt you've been carrying, I'm telling you now that you've gotta stop. I just cured you of your drunken state so you can come to your senses." Then I noticed the Heal Magic Materia glowing on his left wrist armor that was hiding under his sleeve. I looked up at his deep blue eyes. There wasn't a single speck of the glowing green I saw when I first met him.

"But… why?" I was confused. "I don't see how I deserve even that much."

He reached his hand under my hood and touched my furry cheek.

"I love you, Moira. I always have, and I always will. And I've forgiven you simply because none of it was your fault. I never blamed or doubted you for an instant. You did what you thought was right, and I thank you for that much. You need to stop blaming yourself for all of this and move on."

"Raven," I sobbed, just delighted that I'd actually found him.

"And now that you've seen my face, how about you pull down your hood so I can see yours?"

"But…"

"I want to see what you look like," he said, smiling with the same tenderness he did twenty years earlier.

"Ya, take yer hood down," Ghost agreed, "I'm sure you can't look THAT bad."

I slowly and reluctantly pulled down my hood, not quite sure what to expect. My appearance certainly made Ghost gasp.

"Holy crap-in-the-box!" exclaimed Ghost, "You're a cat!"

"Thank you for reminding me why I hide myself," I grumbled as I reached to pull my hood back up, but before I could reach the hood, Raven grabbed my hands and stopped me.

"No, it's fine," Raven said, lowering our hands down in between us, still holding them, "Freak of nature, my ass. You're still as beautiful as the last time I saw you, and amazingly, also still as young."

"Yea, I guess my body kind of gave up on aging after all that's happened. And just look at these ears." I daintily yanked at my large cat ears. "I have to strain my ear muscles just so they'll stay down and not show through my hood."

"Well, you're still far better-looking than I am," Raven replied, pointing at his face, "Or ever will be for that matter. 'Cause I can't get any younger."

We laughed at this for a moment.

"Ugh!" He cringed, grasping at his chest and leaning over toward me.

"Raven!" I let go of my ears to reach over to him, but then he got back up and brushed it off.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ghost asked in concern.

"I'm fine," he said, "It's just the Jenova cells acting up again."

"Again?" I wondered out loud, "You mean this has happened before?"

"Ya, but it's nothing serious," He answered.

"What do you mean 'nothing serious'?" I snapped, "You walked in here leaning on a walking stick and just now you looked like you were having a heart attack. How can you call that 'nothing serious'?"

"These dead cells have been eating away at me for twenty years, especially after fourteen years ago when they finished draining out all the mako energy that was flowing through me, which is why my eyes don't glow at all anymore. As you can see, the cells have me aging a little faster than I would be without them, and it's quite obvious that my health isn't what it's supposed to be at my age. I had to start using this walking stick about five years after we last saw each other, and the chest pains started about seven years ago."

"But how can you take that so lightly?" I asked.

"Mostly because there's nothing I can do about it," he answered, "I mastered this Heal Materia trying to figure out how to get rid of the dead Jenova cells, but nothing worked. Not even the Panacea spell, which is supposed to cure anything. So I gave up on that endeavor and started wandering the world. I figured that I should enjoy what life I have left, and I learned to be grateful that I was able to live so long with this. I've taken care of myself as well as I could, but I'm still gradually getting weaker."

"But you can't go wandering the world in the condition you're in!" I said.

"Sure I can, and I have to. Gotta keep in shape somehow," he joked and chuckled a bit. "But in all seriousness, I stopped worrying about it years ago. At least I've fought to keep myself alive while most of the other Jenova survivors quickly gave up and keeled over, whether they were seriously sick or not. Of course, some were like me trying to fight them off till the end, but they were overcome. Since they had so many more Jenova cells, they died so much sooner. The rest of them just laid back and waited for death."

"Hey, it's kinda funny," Ghost spoke up, "You might die at any given moment and you're enjoying life while she can't die at all and seems like she doesn't want to live."

I glared and growled at him for saying that, baring my teeth, and he cowered and ducked behind the counter.

"Please don't kill me," he whined.

"Well, I see your temper hasn't changed," Raven said sipping his water. "Perhaps it's a good thing your scythe was lost in Midgar."

"Very funny," I grumbled as I put my hood back on and got up off the stool. I paid for my drinks and turned around to walk away.

"Will you wait for me at the Inn?" Asked Raven, "We still have a lot to talk about."

"Of course. I planned on spending the night there anyway," I answered and walked out the door and into the town square.

It was nighttime at Costa Del Dol. Being a beach resort town, most of the activity was during the day, and hardly anyone did anything at night, so it was rather quiet. The only sound was the crashing of ocean waves on the beach and the faint voices of young couples walking along the beach. I went over to the Inn and waited in the lobby, sitting on one of the chairs there.

I didn't have to wait very long, because a few minutes later, I saw Raven coming through the door, leaning on his walking stick, hood still off. I got up and started walking towards him when I was suddenly shoved back into my chair.

"Oh, Mr. Usher!" whined a man who was rushing towards him from somewhere behind me, shoving me back into the chair in the process. "Let me help you, sir! You shouldn't be walking around so much in your condition, especially not this late at night."

"Go back to your work, Bradley," Raven droned to the whining man, almost groaning as he spoke, "I'll be fine. I had to go see someone."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Usher, but you know how I get so worried sometimes."

"I understand that, Bradley, but the last time I checked, your job title was Innkeeper, not Nanny."

"Yes, you're right. I'm so sorry. I'll just go back to where I was." And he ran back to his place behind the counter. Raven then walked over to where I was sitting.

"Sorry about that, Moira," he apologized, holding his hand out to help me up. "Bradley's a bit of an idiot and worries about my health a little too much. He has a weak spot for Jenova Cases like me, especially for the few that lived after the 'epidemic' the dead cells caused."

"Uh, ok," I replied and took his hand. He helped me up off the chair and we started walking toward the stairs.

"Uh, Mr. Usher?" Bradley called from the counter, "Is your friend staying with you in your room?"

"Uh, actually--" I started.

"Yes, Bradley, she is," Raven answered before I could finish.

"Oh, alright," he answered and went back to what he was doing.

"Raven?" I was confused. I looked at him as we walked down the hall.

He draped his arm around my shoulders and looked up at me.

"We haven't seen each other in twenty years, Moira," He started, "We have a lot to catch up on."

We went to his room. He had to lean on me with his left arm, with his left hand still holding the walking stick, while reaching for the key with his right hand. I noticed the feeble grasp he had on the key as he stuck it into the keyhole and turned it to unlock the door. His grip was weak, but sure. It was like he was determined not to let his ailment slow him down.

He turned the unlocked doorknob and pushed the door open. We walked inside and I shut the door behind us. He limped over to the coat rack. He took off his black cloak and hung it up on the coat rack. Then I was able to see what was underneath.

He was wearing a dark brown coat over a midnight blue shirt. He wore tan pants buckled with a black leather belt. The only things he wore that I recognized were the two armbands he wore with his SOLDIER uniform as well as the boots he was wearing. He had his Heal Magic material equipped to his left armband, and a couple of other materias on his right.

His hair had gotten a few inches longer. The braid that once only went down past his hips had grown down past his knees. It was mostly white and gray with some subtle streaks of brown. It was also thinner and shaggier than before.

He took off his coat and hung it next to the cloak. He turned around to face me.

"Feel free to take off your cloak," he chuckled, noticing that I wasn't doing anything, "Gee, does my physical age shock you that bad?"

"It's not that," I answered.

"Then what's bothering you?" He said as he limped over to the bed and sat down on it.

I took off my cloak and hung it next to his. I walked over and sat next to him on the bed. It felt awkward sitting next to him after having given up for so long. For so many years before that point I'd lost all hope of ever finding him again. And then there he was, right next to me. The fact that I'd given up made me feel uncomfortable. I felt my ears lower as I thought this.

"And don't tell me that you're feeling guilty again," he said.

"No, it's not that."

"Then what is it?"

"It's just that..." I hesitated.

"Yes?"

"I thought you were dead."

"Let me guess. You found my marker in Mideel?"

"Yes. Why did you put that there if you weren't dead?"

"The marker reads, and I quote, 'The remains of the man once known as Raven, the young SOLDIER still awaiting his sweet lovely lady.'"

"Yeah, remains. As in a body."

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you think that. I didn't think you would actually find that. What I meant was what was left of whatever linked me to the nickname Raven. I stopped calling myself that when my hair started turning gray, and under the marker I left the last of my dark hairs."

I looked at him, but my vision was blurred. Then I noticed that it was because there were tears in my eyes again. I quickly rubbed them out. Then I felt his hand on my cheek.

"We're together now, Moira," he said in a soft and tender voice, sliding his hand down and around my face, "That is all that matters to me.

"I have waited twenty years so I could see your beautiful face again," he continued, "After I left that day, I've been trying to look for you so I could apologize for disappearing the way I did. Especially after I saw what happened not too long after I left."

He took both my hands. I looked at him and saw that his head was tilted downward, his eyes were shut, and his eyebrows were pressed down. Apparently, he's had some guilt of his own to deal with.

"It wasn't your fault Kalm was destroyed," he continued, "It was mine."

"But, Raven--" I responded.

"It was my fault," He repeated and looked up at me again, this time his eyes were filled with sorrow, "You turned into that monster because of my sudden disappearance."

There were so many questions going through my mind at that moment. I wanted to ask him if he was actually there when it happened, where he was, and why he left to begin with. I wanted to know so much, but I couldn't bring myself to ask the questions. I could only stare at him as he told me his story.

"After the voices in my head were gone," he continued, bowing his head again, "It felt so strange having my own mind all to myself again. I was so confused; I just got up and left without thinking about what I was doing or where I was going. I didn't realize what I was doing until I was just outside of the town wall..."

He hesitated and looked up at me again, "...when I heard the first explosions."

"What?" I uttered, not quite believing what I was hearing.

"I ran back into the town and saw a giant cat creature shooting fire magic at everything in sight."

"So you were there?" I wondered out loud. "But... How did you survive?"

"To tell you the truth, I'm not sure," he answered, "When I saw you rampaging like that, I was scared so bad, I just started running. I ran for hours, not quite sure where I'd end up."

"Where _DID_ you end up?"

"I ended up collapsing at a huge clearing past the mountains. I woke up a couple of days later on the back of a chocobo."

"A chocobo?"

"Yes, a chocobo. It was on its way to Fort Condor, carrying sacks of supplies for the people living there. The man who was traveling with the chocobo was walking alongside it. Apparently, he'd found me on his way to Fort Condor. When we got there, the man in charge of the place was kind enough to let me rest there for a while. After taking a moment to think about what had happened, I decided that I had to go find you. Because that's when I realized that I'd done you a terrible wrong by leaving. After that, I swore that I'd never stop searching until I found you. I refused to allow these Jenova cells to kill me before I get the chance to tell you how sorry I am."

"Raven..." I couldn't think of anything to say to that. It seemed that we both had similar emotional problems going on for the past twenty years.

"I was such an idiot for leaving you the way I did that day," he continued, "Can you forgive me?"

"Of course," I answered and paused a moment, "All this time you've been blaming yourself for Kalm's destruction?"

"Yes," he answered. "I've traveled all over the world looking for you. I knew that I would find you eventually if I kept looking."

"I've traveled the world two or three times looking for you," I replied, "I even looked in Nibelheim, where most of the Jenova Cases stayed, but you weren't anywhere."

"Nibelheim?" He raised an eyebrow, "When were you in Nibelheim?"

"It was about a year after the last time we met," I answered.

"I'm amazed we didn't see each other then," he answered, "I went to Nibelheim half a year after we parted and stayed there for over a year, planning out my travels so my search would be efficient. Exactly when was it that you went to Nibelheim?"

"It was the day that the so-called Jenova Virus was on the news. I was in Rocket Town when I saw it, and the guy I was staying with gave me a ride to Nibelheim on his airship."

"Airship?"

"The Highwind, to be exact."

"So THAT'S why the Highwind was parked there that day," he replied, "I was in the bar then, chatting with the bartender about the so-called disease."

I smacked myself on the forehead after hearing that.

"Damn you, Bibble!" I cursed.

"Bibble?" He repeated.

"Do you remember that little moogle that was with me the last time we saw each other in Kalm?"

"Yes?"

"That was Bibble. She stayed with me for a few years when I started my search. She was really overprotective of me and didn't let me go into any bars. So naturally, the bar was the only place I didn't look."

Raven then began to laugh. After a moment the laughter got stronger.

"What's so funny?" I asked, failing to see the humor.

He pushed down his laughter so he could speak.

"It's just that," he started as he finished laughing, "It seems so funny that we completely missed each other that day. I walked out of the bar and saw the Highwind flying away. Had I left the bar earlier, we might've found each other so much sooner."

"I still don't see how that's funny," I insisted.

"Well, to me it sounds like something out of one of those stupid romantic comedies. Two lovers go looking for each other in the exact same place, but they end up just barely missing each other. If they'd have just turned around they would've seen each other and all would've been well."

I had to admit, it did sound like something that would only happen in a movie. I couldn't help but laugh myself after thinking about it that way. He then laughed along with me. After we finished laughing our eyes met again.

We stared into each other's eyes. His eyes were so deep, and it wasn't just because of the shade of blue. There was emotion in those eyes that were held back for twenty years. I felt tears well up in my eyes again, but this time I didn't bother holding them back. I then leaned toward him and wrapped my arms around him.

"I'm so glad I've finally found you," I sobbed as he wrapped his arms around me.

"So am I, Moira," he replied, "So am I."

We then continued talking for what seemed like years, telling each other of our adventures around the world. He, of course, didn't like it when I got to the part where I tried to kill myself, but then I told about how I made up for it later and promised never to do that again.

We stayed there talking even long after the sun came up. We didn't care. We just wanted to spend as much time as we could together, because even though we had no idea how long we had, we knew it wouldn't be very long at all.


	18. Ch 16: Journey Of The Raven

**Chapter** **XVI**

**Journey of the Raven**

We both sat on the bed, leaning back against the headboard, him on my right side, and my right hand clasped with his left. I had already told him my story and was waiting for Raven to start telling me his.

"Well, after leaving Fort Condor," he began, "I moved north towards the mountains. I ended up at the home of an old man who liked to sleep a lot. I asked if he'd seen a pretty girl with a catlike face. He said he didn't and then said something about a spiky-haired blonde boy, so I left and headed west to Junon. Going by what you told me about your journey, it sounds like we were there at the same time, but it makes more sense for us to have missed each other in a place like Junon that has a huge military base in it, rather than a little nothing town like Nibelheim.

"I didn't figure I was gonna find you there, so I took the next boat across the ocean over here to Costa Del Sol. It was the first time I'd ever been here, and everyone seemed really friendly. I asked around for you, but nobody knew what I was talking about, so I left.

I followed the edge of the mountains until I ended up at the mining town of North Corel. After wandering around for a bit, I found the cable car that went to the famous Gold Saucer. I hopped on and was on my way. There were many fun things to do there, but you were nowhere to be found. So my stay there wasn't long.

After arriving back at North Corel on the cable car, I walked back through the town and left, heading west. I arrived at Rocket Town. The first thing I notice, as you pointed out, was that the rocket wasn't there anymore. I asked the locals what happened to the rocket, and they told me that the Shinra tried to destroy Meteor by launching the rocket into it and that it didn't work.

The second thing I noticed was, as you also said, that there was a gigantic airship parked just behind the house at the very back of the town, right next to the scrap yard that was once the rocket's launch pad. When I asked about that, the townspeople told me that it was the Highwind, captained by a man named Cid Highwind. They then told me not to go near the man because he was really vulgar."

"Oh yeah," I agreed, "He pretty much puts a swear word or two in every sentence he speaks. And he smokes constantly. His house wreaked of tobacco. He even carries a full pack of cigarettes under the strap of his goggles."

"I was told all those things," Raven continued, "But they were said to only be rumors because nobody in the town ever had the guts to go talk to him."

"Well, I actually met him, so I can tell you that they're not just rumors. But surprisingly enough, I found that there's a nice guy under all that. It's just really deep down. He was only so nice to me because I told him about how I flew on Jamie everywhere I went."

"I suppose everyone likes being with people they can agree with. I never heard anything nice about him from the people in town, so I avoided it and just stayed the night at the inn. I asked the innkeeper what was the quickest route to Nibelheim, which was the closest town to where I was. He laughed and said that the quickest route was up and over the mountains to the southeast, and then he also pointed out that that route was suicide. He then told me that the safe route would be to go east around the mountains and then head south. So, after leaving Rocket Town, that's what I did. I followed the southern mountains to the east and then headed south.

"At this point it was getting close to half a year since I started my journey. Unlike you, who had a swift-flying chocobo for your travels, I only had my two feet to carry me around, so the going was much slower. It took me several weeks to get there, but I was well supplied for it.

"When I got to Nibelheim and started talking to he townspeople, I learned that there were more people like me who had Jenova cells in them that, like me, survived. This was also the point where the so-called 'disease' was starting to show itself. One of the Jenova victims was in the clinic with strange symptoms that the doctors couldn't recognize. After a while, more and more people had come in with the same symptoms, some dying quickly after contracting them. All of them were Jenova victims. I decided to put my search for you on hold to help.

"Of course, I also worried that the same thing was gonna happen to me, so I wanted to help while I still could. Half a year later, nearly every Jenova victim was in the clinic being treated, or at least being made more comfortable because the doctors just couldn't figure out what it was or how to treat it. This was the point when the so-called epidemic hit the news worldwide, and soon after, the Highwind came to town. I was in the bar at the moment. Had I known that the reason for the Highwind's coming was to bring you here looking for me, I would've jumped up from my stool and ran out to find you. By the time I finished my drinks and left the bar, the Highwind was already flying away, taking you away with it.

"After another few months, I started getting ready to leave. I realized that I really couldn't do anything to help, and I had to continue my search for you and keep going while I still had the strength to do so. So, after having stayed there for a year, I left and headed south. I ended up at the sea. I knew there was more of the continent to the south, and I also knew that there were mountains between that place and where I was. So I followed the sea line until I found a ferry that went across it. After that, I continued south to Cosmo Canyon.

"The first thing I noticed was that there was a huge crater where half the canyon once was. Fortunately for me, the town was still there so that I could rest and restock my supplies. I asked about the crater, and they said that some giant Ultima Weapon monster made it. They also gave me a look like 'Where the heck have YOU been, in a coma?' which wouldn't have been entirely wrong considering what my condition was at that point in time. You probably understand what that's like, not to know about all the life-changing events that everyone else in the world knows about."

"Yes, I do," I replied, "Because I was in that tank in Hojo's lab the entire time this was happening."

"Yeah, so you know what I mean," he continued. "After that awkward moment, I explored the town. I wound up meeting an unusual creature by the name of Nanaki."

"Nanaki?" I interrupted, somehow recognizing the name, "I've heard that name before. What did he look like?"

"Well, he had bright red fur all over his body, had "XIII" tattooed on his hindquarters, and he kinda looked like a cross between a cat and a dog."

Then it clicked.

"I remember now! I met him in Hojo's lab. Nanaki was the specimen that Hojo told me to guard before knocking me out, but Hojo called him Red XIII, which I assume is related to the tattoo. I'd completely forgotten about him. I remember Hojo saying that he was the last of his kind."

"Well apparently, Hojo was wrong," Raven replied, "Because I saw him with a female of his species. He told me that after Meteor, he'd gone home to Cosmo Canyon to have a proper funeral for his grandfather, who had died not long before Meteor. Afterwards, he'd gone off to search the world for more of his kind, which ended quickly when he found that female. She was living alone in the dessert below the Gold Saucer. How she'd survived there I'll never know. I never learned her name."

"Well, it's nice to know Nanaki made it out alright," I replied, "And that he really isn't the last of his kind."

"Yeah. After we finished talking, he invited me to stay with him for as long as I needed to recover and continue my journey. I gladly accepted. After a few nights, I started to notice a few gray hairs starting to show up. I figured it would've happened sooner or later. What baffled me was that it happened ever so slightly, slowly. While the rest of the Jenova victims had all their symptoms hit them all at once, mine came gradually. I didn't start losing muscle strength until much later, at least enough that I could notice.

"A few years of traveling later, I found myself in my hometown of Mideel, staring down at a crater full of this glowing aqua-blue liquid. I was pretty sure it was the Lifestream, the very blood of the planet. I heard that the same Ultima Weapon that made the crater in Cosmo Canyon was what made this one in Mideel. It hurt seeing that big glowing hole in the ground where most of the town was. Mideel was never the most fun place to be, but it was still the place I called home, and I realized that fact when I saw how devastated it was. Funny how the things you miss the most are the things you take the most for granted.

"My hair had almost all turned gray, so I decided to just yank out the rest of my dark hairs and bury any evidence of the man known as Raven. I made the grave marker and set it amongst the graves of the townspeople who'd died when the hole was made. It seemed like the right idea at the time. If I'd known it would drive you to kill yourself, I'd have just left those hairs in my head to turn gray with the rest of 'em. Of course, I also never thought that you would actually FIND it, let alone READ it. Oh well, we can't change what happened, so why worry about it now?

"I didn't stay there long, because the ferry that took me there was only staying for a short while and wasn't going to return for a good long time. And the man that ran the ferry had been threatening to never run that route again because there was rarely any business to Mideel anymore."

"And he was still threatening when he took me there that last time," I replied. "Though he might've actually made good on his threat by now, because that was a little over eleven years ago."

"Yeah, you're probably right," he chuckled, "I can't imagine ferrying to such an empty place for so long. I'd think it would cost him more than help him.

"Well, some years later, I wound up in Gongaga, which is on the southeast corner of the Western Continent, a few hundred miles east-southeast of Cosmo Canyon. Not many people know about it because the Shinra had made a real mess of the place. It was where they built one of their first mako reactors, though this one had malfunctioned and exploded, destroying most of the town and killing many of the people. And even the survivors weren't completely unaffected, as many of them died from mako poisoning because so much of it was released into the air. When I got there, they were starting to rebuild the town but further away from the dead reactor. I met up with an old friend of mine while I was there and stayed for a while. In one of our conversations, my friend suggested to me that I stay in one place and wait for you to come to me, and in turn suggested Costa Del Sol because it's a major port town and the town itself isn't very big. So if you were to go through here, it wouldn't be very hard to find you.

So I came to Costa Del Sol, settled down here at the inn, and waited. Bradley lets me stay for free just because I'm a Jenova victim. And here I stayed for the past couple of years, waiting and watching. Every day I'd go out twice a day and walk around town. I'd go once in the morning, and once at night. Then last night I saw you, a mysterious person in a black cloak, entering the bar. At first I didn't think it could possibly be you because you looked so creepy. But then I remembered how much you used to drink, and that it would actually make sense for you to try and hide yourself under cloak and hood. So then I slipped my cloak, which I'd gotten during my stay at Nibelheim, and headed into the bar."

He reached his right hand over and touched our clasped hands.

"The rest is history," he finished. "Not nearly as exciting as your journey, but that's how it went."

"In most ways I wish mine wasn't so exciting," I replied as I reached my left hand and rested it ontop of Raven's. "I had a lot of experiences I'd rather forget."

He lifted my hand up, though barely able, and he leaned down and gently kissed it.

"And you're most likely to have more like it."

I looked up at him, puzzled. He looked back at me with a sad smile on his face.

"You're obviously going to live for a very long time, Moira," he explained. "You're bound to have many more bad experiences, but keep in mind that there will also be many more good ones. Instead of dwelling on the bad times, maybe you should just remember the fun and happy times you've had. Like your time with Bibble. Or when you helped Hikorai. Or even the times we had in our very short time dating together. I'm not going to be around for very long. Any day now, these Jenova cells will weaken me enough to kill me. And when that happens, I don't want you to grieve for me. I want you to continue to live and be happy."

I just stared at him. I really wasn't comfortable with the way he was talking. He leaned closer to me and then pressed his lips to mine. Though the press was weaker than I remembered, the taste was still the same. I closed my eyes and pressed back, ears tilting downward. He let go of my hand and touched my face. We parted and looked in each other's eyes.

I then moved down on the bed and turned around so I was lying down with my back to him. He lay down beside me and wrapped his arm around me. He laid his head on mine, right ontop of my large feline ear.

"Like this, Moira," he whispered, "Remember this moment. The way we're lying here. The conversation we had tonight."

I reached my arm up and held the arm he had wrapped around me.

"I love you," I said. It was all I could think to say.

"I love you, too," he replied, kissing my furry cheek and laying his head back behind mine. We had stayed up the entire night, and well into the day. We stayed like that on the bed until we drifted to sleep, even with the sun shining and the people bustling outside.

(A Few Hours Later)

The sun was going down when I woke up, noticing that I was the only one on the bed. I jolted up and looked around the room. I found him standing on the other side of the room, leaning and hunched over a desk with the desk lamp turned on. His right arm was clutched to his chest, and his breathing was heavy.

"Raven!" I yelled as I bolted up from the bed and ran over to him.

He only responded by looking up at me, sweating like he'd run a marathon.

"We have to get you to a doctor!" I said.

"No…" he replied. "They can't help."

"It's still worth a try."

I then lifted him up off the floor. He was surprisingly light, either because of my esper strength, his Jenova cells, or a combination of both. Carrying him in my arms, I ran out of the room and through the lobby. Bradley noticed us and immediately started panicking.

"What's going on!" He asked, stopping me at the door.

"He needs help," I answered. "Where's the clinic?"

"On the far side of the market."

"Thanks," I said and dashed away to the clinic.

Luckily for me the door was open so I could just run right in. As soon as I got in, the doctors immediately acted.

"Mr. Usher!" One of the doctors yelled out, rushing over to us. "Get the gurney!"

Almost immediately, a gurney was pulled out and wheeled over to me. I laid Raven down on it, and they wheeled him off to the emergency room.

"Will you be able to help him?" I asked the one doctor that stayed.

"I don't know," he answered, "This is the third time this month that this has happened. I'll let you know if anything happens."

He then turned around and walked over to the emergency room to join the other doctors, staring at me the entire time.

I was left there, waiting and wondering what was going to happen. I could feel the tension in the room from the receptionist at the desk. She wasn't comfortable with me being there. I didn't care. I wasn't going to leave without knowing whether or not Raven was ok.

After a long and excruciating wait, a doctor finally walked out of the room. It was the same doctor that stayed and stared at me. I walked over to him.

"Well?" I asked.

"He had a heart attack," he answered. My heart sank.

"You mean he's..."

"Not yet," he answered before I could finish. "He somehow managed to survive, but he was severely weakened by it. It's very possible that he won't make it through the night. He asked that we bring you in so you could be together."

I nodded and followed him into the room. There he was on the bed, with an injection tube pinned in his arm and an air tube in his nose. I walked over to the bedside and kneeled down next to it. He opened his eyes halfway and looked over to me.

"Hey, Beautiful," he greeted in a weak voice, managing a weak smile.

"Hey," I replied, tears welling up in my eyes.

"I'd reach up and touch your beautiful face, but I don't think I can."

I picked his hand up and held it to my face. I could feel a little bit of movement in his fingers, but not a lot.

"I don't have much longer," he said.

"I don't want it to end just yet," I said.

"I know," he replied. "I'm sorry. I tried."

I couldn't think of anything else to say. I just stayed there, holding his hand to my face.

"Although I get the feeling that even if I didn't have these Jenova cells and lived out a normal human lifespan, it would still not be long enough. You would still have a lot more life ahead of you."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You're in your forties, but you look exactly the same as when you were first put in this form. You're probably going to live much longer than any human could, maybe hundreds or even thousands of years. If that ends up being the case, I need you to promise me something."

"Anything."

"Promise me, Moira, that after I'm gone, you will go and settle down somewhere. Live a life, or maybe two or three. Start a new life for yourself, so you'll have a way of making new memories. Maybe along the way, you can even get yourself a new scythe. Truly start over."

I cracked a smile at that last one.

"I promise," I wept, tears flowing down my cheek.

He closed his eyes.

"I love you, Sweet Lady," he whispered.

"I love you, Kind Soldier," I responded.

With that, I felt his hand go limp and saw his face relax. I could even smell the difference in the air around him. I then dropped my head to his chest and cried for what seemed like forever.

"Remember," I heard in my head. "Don't grieve for me. Leave this place behind and live happily. Keep me in your heart with the good times we shared. And remember your promise."

Startled, I lifted my head up and looked around, but found nothing.

"A last message?" I thought, and lifted myself up from his now lifeless body.

I stared down at it. He looked so peaceful. The doctors came in and surrounded the bed, covering him up, confirming that he was in fact dead.

(The next morning)

I decided not to stay for the funeral. This decision was mostly because Raven's last wish was for me to not grieve for him, and a funeral was an event made for grieving. Besides, the basic point of a funeral service was to bury the body. Raven was dead and no longer in his body, so there was really no point in me sticking around to watch it be buried in the ground.

So I left Costa Del Sol late in the morning with a sack on my back filled with food for my new journey. I was leaving this place behind me and off to find a place to settle down and start a new life, just as he asked.

"I'll keep my promise," I thought, directing it to Raven in case he could hear it. "And if I live long enough to outlive that promise, I'll keep it again and again. As many times as I have to before I die."

**To Be Continued...**


End file.
